John MILLS Obituary

Cathy and I extend our thoughts and prayers to Barry's family. We were truly blessed to have been friends with Barry and Jeanette during our assignment in Auckland with NCR. They lived on the same street and often had us over for meals
They made us feel like family. We were even invited numerous times to their bach on the beach. Barry was ever supportive of me at work and helped me on numerous occasions to make the business ever better. I could not have asked for a better teammate. He will always be a great friend who I was so very proud to have known. May he now enjoy being reunited with Jeanette.

So sad to see the passing of Barry.
He was my boss in Palmerston North from 1966. When he was finally appointed to top management and moved to Auckland I then used to see him and Jeanette often as they lived just across the valley from us in Chatswood.
A very astute capable man with top people person skills.
Will be sadly missed by so many.
You can RIP now Barry.
Kind regards
Tim

To the Mills Family and Friends
It is appropriate at this time to talk about JBM, successful businessman, in terms of work-life balance.
There is no doubt about the work element, which is mostly where I knew him. Barry had good men working for him who respected him. Many made sacrifices when he asked them. They spent weeks even months away from home, in the USA and elsewhere, on new product schools and other assignments. Barry promoted a great sense of teamwork in his group, and they delivered in terms of satisfying the company´s customers.
Nothing portrays Barry´s total commitment to achieve excellence for his team, and the whole organisation, than the story of one Review. Regularly a Review team would arrive from HQ in Dayton to review the operation in detail and make changes deemed necessary. It was important that Senior Managers were on hand to advise on their operation. On this occasion the Review finished on a Monday and job done, the Dayton team were off to next stop, Sydney. On the next day, Tuesday, the team learned that Barry had had a serious operation and was recovering in hospital. Such was his dedication and commitment that he had arranged for the operation to be scheduled a few hours after the Review finalised, so he could participate and promote his Division´s success. A big tick for the work part of work-life balance.
So how about the "life" part of the work-life balance? A little more difficult to be specific but it was very clearly there. When in a more relaxed mode he would talk about his children, their spouses, and their children (his grandchildren). Not in any way revealing family specific items but generally how proud he was of them as they made their own way on the world. It was clear there was mutual respect and love. The "batch", a family hideaway, often received mention as were the contests with the tides.
He was married for 65 years to, dare I say, a wonderful and formidable woman Jeanette. A steady rock to be with in life´s journey. They made a great family team!
Vale Barry,
A Great Family remains to witness A Life well lived.
Warren Castray