Louis Byington Barnes, 81, Harvard professor, author

Louis Byington Barnes’s practice of focused attention to speech was probably born out of his lengthy and accomplished teaching career, a legacy built on his personal mantra that teaching is, “the discipline of listening extra carefully before making interventions in the discussion.’’

Family members say those who encountered him often said that in their conversations, they felt they were really being heard. Barnes was known to concentrate on a person’s every word, and then bowl them over with witty, insightful responses.

Known by intimates as By, he died Aug. 22 at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor. The retired Harvard Businesses School professor was 81 and had suffered from long-term kidney failure…
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