Editorial: Leaving a wonderful legacy

Wednesday, May 2, 2007 | 7:16 a.m.

When longtime Las Vegan Marjorie Barrick died this week at age 89, she left an incredible legacy .

She and her husband, Edward, who died in 1979, put scores of students through college. She also supported graduate fellowships and research projects, and was involved in the UNLV Foundation. She also was a benefactor of public television.

The hallmark, though, was the Barrick Lecture Series she established in 1980 in memory of her husband. The lecture series, started when Las Vegas had a population of less than 500,000 , began bringing prominent individuals to Las Vegas who otherwise might not have come to speak to the public.

The series has brought world and national leaders to UNLV, including former President Jimmy Carter, former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, former House Speaker Thomas "Tip" O'Neill and included a debate that pitted liberal economist John Kenneth Galbraith against conservative thinker William F. Buckley.

Tickets for the lectures are free because of Barrick's generosity, and she said it was "very gratifying to me to know anyone in town can go."

UNLV named its natural history museum for her. Other honors include the "Spirit of Life" award from the City of Hope National Medical Center, an honorary doctorate from UNLV, and the Governor's Arts Award for Distinguished Service.

After being given those honors, Barrick told the Sun in 1989 that she was "going to keep going."

"I feel life is not really worth living if I can't do something for someone else," she said.

She certainly lived that way, and Las Vegas is a much better place for it.