Central Ohio Technical College (COTC) and The Ohio State University at Newark share remembrance of Robert A. Barnes, PhD, the campus’s first administrator, who passed away at 99 years of age on Sept. 5, 2026.

Generations of students have benefited from Dr. Barnes’ commitment to expanding educational opportunity in Licking County,” said Matthew J. Smith, PhD, Ohio State Newark dean and director. “The 55-year cost-shared partnership stands as a powerful and lasting tribute to his leadership, vision and impact.

He was originally hired at Ohio State as an instructor in the university’s school of music. The Cleveland native was named Ohio State Newark’s first dean and director in 1965 — when the institution was still offering classes in the old Newark High School. His earliest work in that role included overseeing the permanent campus’s design, the purchase of its land, the construction of its first building and the hiring of its first full-time faculty. The Newark campus officially opened in 1968. When COTC was established three years later, Barnes became the founding president.

As I look back on things,” he, then in his mid-90s, said in a 2021 interview, “I must admit that I have probably taken a little more pride, comfort and joy in the work at the Newark campus than with any of the other challenges that I undertook.

Barnes helped build the campus’s shared financial model — the basics of which are still in use today. As shared chief administrator through 1979, he satisfied ever-growing enrollment numbers by adding two more academic buildings. He hired more faculty, many with workforce experience, to lead dozens of newly implemented programs. He enabled COTC’s first off-campus classes, which led to an official expansion of the college’s service district into Knox and Coshocton counties.

Dr. Barnes’ stalwart commitment to deep-seeded collaboration between the two institutions remains as the guiding principle of campus administration today,” said John M. Berry, PhD, COTC president. “I greatly appreciated his willingness to serve as a personal mentor and confidant. He was a man of great integrity, and he will truly be missed.

With his wife, he created the forthcoming Dr. Robert A. and Betty A. Barnes Scholarship Fund through the Licking County Foundation. It will support Licking County high school seniors who demonstrate financial need and academic prowess, and preference is given to applicants who will become enrolled at COTC or Ohio State. Learn more and donate.

Barnes will be best remembered on the Newark campus as the architect of its enduring partnership. His strategy still functions as effectively as it did 55 years ago.

If you have respect for each other, operate together and share the costs, everyone’s better off,” he said in a 2025 interview. “I think that’s just the way it is.