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Adrian "Pete" DuBarry, Jr. June 3, 1932 - June 19, 2026 Adrian "Pete" DuBarry, Jr., 94, passed away peacefully at home on the morning of June 19, 2026 - fittingly, on the 33rd wedding anniversary of his marriage to his beloved wife, Patricia Welch-DuBarry. In his final days he was lovingly cared for around the clock by Patricia and his stepdaughter, Tracy. Born June 3, 1932, in Covington, Louisiana, in St. Tammany Parish, Pete grew up to become a true Renaissance man whose boundless curiosity and gift for words never dimmed across his ninety-four years. He was educated at St. Paul's School in Covington. As a young man he entered the seminary and came within reach of the priesthood before choosing another calling - marriage and family - that would bring him five children. Pete served in the United States Army and Air Force, and earned a Master's degree in Forestry from Louisiana State University, where his inventive mind already stood out: he received special recognition as the first to demonstrate the germination of certain seeds underwater. An accomplished athlete, he ranked among the top three track competitors in Louisiana in his day - and he remained a devoted LSU Tiger and avid college-football fan all his life. His work carried him across the world. With the Standard Fruit Company he served as an efficiency expert, posted throughout Central America. He rose to become an executive at Weyerhaeuser, where his ingenuity found its perfect home: purely for the love of it, he dreamed up and built prototype after prototype of new box and packaging designs, earning several patents that the company bought from him for a token dollar apiece. He later founded his own firm, DuBarry International, Inc., exporting secondary fibers - and, as a passion, importing wine from Argentina, becoming one of the first to bring Argentine wine to the United States in the 1970s. His children still remember helping him in the garage, mocking up machinery and building those prototypes by hand. But Pete was never only a businessman. A born inventor and storyteller, he created board and card games - among them Casino Royale, his first, sold at Walmart through his company TLE, Inc. (The Learning Experience), along with Bluffem, Famous Dead Dudes, and many more - and he wrote stories, poems, and songs, an excellent wordsmith to the core. He spoke Spanish and French, performed remarkable math in his head, and taught every one of his children and grandchildren to play chess and ping-pong (and they all became excellent at both). To the very end he remained sharp, alert, and irrepressibly optimistic - at 94 still thinking like an entrepreneur, still dreaming up the next idea. His mind never failed him; it was his heart, after several surgeries including a valve replacement at 81, that finally gave out. Pete was preceded in death by three of his five children - Denise DuBarry (2019), Denis DuBarry (2023), and Diana DuBarry (2024). He is survived by his devoted wife of 33 years, Patricia; his daughters Adrienne "Adri" DuBarry and Suzanne DuBarry; and a large, loving, blended family who never drew a line between blood and love. His grandchildren include Samantha DuBarry Lockwood, Whitney DuBarry Hay, Aaron, Kyle, and Adam Hay, Raymond Walter, and Sterling Proffer (Danielle) and Morgan Proffer (Dr. Madison McKee Proffer). His great-grandchildren include Caspian Rye Bennison Proffer and Hudson, Weston, and Pax Hay - with another great-granddaughter joyfully awaited this fall. Through his beloved Patricia, he is also survived by her children, whom he embraced as his own - Anthony Saif, James Saif (Dr. Lina Delbruck Saif), and Tracy Welch - and their children Emmi, Luca, and Mia Saif and Christopher, Jeremy, and Leah Welch. He gave every one of them love, mentoring, and encouragement, and a stable, timeless, noble presence that shaped their lives. His memory will live on in all who were lucky enough to know him. A celebration of Pete's life will be announced at a later date.

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Adrian Pierre DuBarry, Jr.

June 3, 1932 - June 19, 2026