ABOUT RAY BARRETT
EDUCATION
Ray Barrett graduated in 1960 from St. Louis University (SLU) where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration.
HONORS
Ray received the University’s “Distinguished Alumnus of the Year” award in 1989. Throughout St. Louis, he is widely known as an “Entrepreneurs’ Entrepreneur.” He was inducted into the inaugural class of the SLU Entrepreneurial Alumni Hall of Fame in 2007. Selected from over 100 distinguished nominees, Ray was honored in the Hi-Tech Category as an “Individual who has displayed the characteristics of entrepreneurial leadership as a founder, owner or top manager of a firm identified as a high-technology business.” In 2017 he was chosen to deliver the commencement address to the graduates of Missouri University of St. Louis College of Optometry. In November of 2020, Ray was honored with a tribute monument plaque for his vision and leadership in the creation of Des Peres Park in Saint Louis County the early 1970s.
U.S. VETERAN
Ray, a veteran of the Korean War, served in the United States Army in Korea from 1953 through 1955.
BUSINESS
Founder – Landshire Food Systems Ray founded Landshire food systems, a manufacturer and distributor of packaged goods in 1959. He developed it into a multimillion-dollar enterprise with franchises in 37 cities throughout the United States before selling it to the Southland Corporation (parent company of 7-11) in 1977.
Founder – Biomedical Systems Ray founded Biomedical Systems in 1975. He is a visionary who continues to anticipate the changing needs of healthcare-related issues and responds with a do-it-now philosophy. Under his leadership, Biomedical Systems grew into a global organization offering clinical trial services, physician/cardiology services, and medical products with offices in the United States, Belgium, China, Japan and India serving several different healthcare markets. In 2017, Ray sold Biomedical Systems.
Ray is one of only a handful of people in the United States to have built – from scratch – three highly successful, unrelated international companies in Landshire Food Systems, Biomedical Systems and Triple Track. Ray has also served on 15 corporate boards, both private and public throughout his career.
INCLUSION
In 1973 Ray founded the Minority Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), the first organization of its kind designed to identify qualified minority individuals and facilitate their participation in “mainstream America” by pairing them with successful franchisors. In 1989, Ray formed Hand-Up (Helping a Neighbor Develop Unlimited Possibilities), a volunteer organization that helps families avoid falling into the cycle of poverty through financial assistance and counseling. Since 2018, he has and continues to serve as a mentor for St. Louis University’s Habitat for Neighborhood Business.
PHILANTHROPY
Ray pioneered several additional assistance programs, including a program to provide hundreds of thousands of meals to disadvantaged children with the cooperation of the St. Louis Mayor’s Council on Youth, the United Auto Workers, and U.S. Department of Agriculture. In 2011, Ray’s fondness for children was shown again as he built the playground for the Guardian Angel Settlement Association, an organization headed by Rev. Jerry Morales that has been serving the needs of children and teens since 1859. For the 2011-2012 school year, Ray donated 26 electrocardiograph (ECG) machines to the St. Louis Public School Systems. These machines are used by students to improve their knowledge of the cardiovascular system as well as gain important training that will help them in the future as they apply for healthcare-related positions. Ray served on several civic boards in the Greater Saint Louis area including two law enforcement organizations: The Medal of Valor and The Backstoppers, Inc. He also served and supported the Kilo Diabetes Foundation for over 30 years and was a contributor and supporter of the Muscular Dystrophy Association for over a decade.
INNOVATION – Patents & Trademarks
Food Industry (Founder, Landshire Food System worldwide, trademarks & patents)
Medical Industry (Founder, Biomedical Systems worldwide, trademarks & patents)
Sports Industry (Inventor of golfs Triple Track™ alignment pattern, distributed worldwide by Callaway Golf; Inventor of Pin Point, a golf ball alignment system)
The Pin Point project is estimated to be complete by the fall of 2022.
All of the above career accomplishments have been made possible by the sound foundation, encouragement, and love provided by his wife Jeannine, mother to four children, who passed in 2004, and his current wife Diane whose husband passed in 2005.