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Gerald Barry Falovitch
Yank Barry
Background information
Born	(1948-01-29) 29 January 1948 (age 76) Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Genres	Rock and Roll Pop
Occupation(s)	Food processing, Singer-songwriter, Musician, Philanthropist, Producer, Arranger
Instrument(s)	Vocals, Guitar, Keyboard, Percussion
Years active	1963–1990
Labels	Columbia Records, Capitol Records, Epic Records, Justin Time Records, Kol Israel Records, London Records, DynoVoice Records, McConnell Records, Chateau Records, Les Disque Trans-Canada, Derrek Mathews Records **, Largo Records, Melodia, GLA Music, MCA Records, Lava/Atlantic Records

Gerald Barry Falovitch, (born January 29, 1948) better known as Yank Barry, is a Canadian businessman and musician. Barry is the founder and CEO of VitaPro, which makes textured vegetable protein for use as a meat substitute and worked in the music industry.

Career

Early career

This section of a biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libelous. Find sources: "Yank Barry" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (April 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

In 1968, Barry joined a band called The Kingsmen. He toured with that band for two years, before leaving in 1970.

In 1971, Barry recorded the rock opera “The diary of Mr. Gray”.

In 1980, he served 11 months of a 6 year prison term for extortion.

VitaPro (1992-present)

Barry founded and is CEO of VitaPro Foods Inc., a company established in 1992 which sells textured vegetable protein soy-based meat substitutes, primarily to prisons and other institutional feeding operations. In 1994, VitaPro concluded a deal with the Texas prison system through which VitaPro purchased in bulk quantities, and using inmate labor, repackage and label said product in commercial containers for sale to the TDCJ-ID Food Service Facilities and to the correctional facilities of other states. Between July 1994 and September 1995, a series of five purchase orders was issued to VitaPro Foods. These purchase orders also served as the contracts between the parties. All shipments of VitaPro were delivered directly to TCI, who repackaged the product using inmate labor. TCI also began marketing VitaPro. A “VitaPro Marketing and Training Team” was formed, and, during the first half of 1995, sales and demonstration visits were made to correctional facilities and other state facilities in California, Iowa, Maryland, Nebraska, New York, Pennsylvania, and Texas. TDCJ stopped purchasing VitaPro in February 1996 and phased out serving it to the inmates and staff from February to May 1996. In August 2001, a jury convicted James Collins and Yank Barry of bribery, money-laundering, and conspiracy. The government had also charged the men with social-security fraud, but the court acquitted them of that count. In 2005, the conviction was overturned. The judge's opinion on this matter noted that the government’s case was entirely circumstantial. It presented numerous witnesses from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. None testified – or even knew – about a deal of any kind between Collins and Barry. Their strongest criticism was that Collins really wanted VitaPro in the prisons and was really involved in the project. The Conclusion of the acquittal is summarized by the judge as The government did not prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. Its witnesses from the agency testified only that Collins strongly advocated VitaPro’s use. None testified – or knew – about an illegal deal between the defendants. The only witness who said that he knew about a deal was Patrick Graham. Because he contradicted himself throughout his two days of testimony, his testimony cancelled itself. Contingently, the defendants were to receive a new trial. In 2007, a retrial was ordered. In 2008, in a short bench trial, Barry was acquitted of all charges.

In 1996, the Canadian VitaPro corporation was dissolved and the company now operates from Belize and Bulgaria.

Humanitarian work (1990 – present)

In the mid 90’s Barry began to get involved in humanitarian work with his friend Muhammad Ali. Since 1997, he has received global recognition for his work. This has included recognition from countries such as Cote D'ivoire, India, Bulgaria, and Libya for his humanitarian work. He is the founder of Global Village Champions Foundation.

He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee for his humanitarian work.

Discography

This section of a biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libelous. Find sources: "Yank Barry" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (April 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Yank Barry is a member of CARAS and American Federation of Musicians.

References

1. Kindred, Dave (2006). Sound and Fury. Simon and Schuster. p. 320.
2. "The Diary of Mr. Gray". Museum of Canadian Music. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
3. "Yank Barry, motivated by past sins, becomes a philanthropist". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 12 March 2014.
4. ^ "Canada Federal Corporation Search". Corporations Canada. Retrieved 2014-03-13.
5. "VitaPro Brochure" (PDF). VitaPro. 2014.
6. Supreme Court of Texas (December 9, 1999.). "State of Texas vs. VitaPro" (PDF). {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
7. "Former Texas prisons chief found guilty in VitaPro scheme". Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. August 21, 2001.
8. Hughes, Lynn N, United States District Judge (September 8, 2005). "US vs. James Collins and Yank Barry, Opinion on Acquittal" (PDF).{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
9. George, Cindy (August 29, 2007). "New trial in VitaPro bribery case ordered". Houston Chronicle.
10. George, Cindy (April 22, 2008). "Decade-old VitaPro bribery case finally ends in acquittals". Houston Chronicle.
11. "VitaPro - contact". VitaPro Foods, Inc. Retrieved 2014-03-14.
12. "Global Village Champions Foundation". Global Village Market. 2011. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
13. "Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee". Retrieved 19 February 2014.

Template:Persondata

• 1948 births
• Anglophone Quebec people
• Canadian art collectors
• Canadian composers
• Canadian expatriates in the Bahamas
• Canadian Jews
• Canadian humanitarians
• Canadian philanthropists
• Canadian record producers
• Canadian songwriters
• Living people
• Musicians from Montreal