Richard Whitten Barnes was born in Minnesota but grew up on the north side of Chicago. A music scholarship took him to Michigan State University, where he majored in chemistry. He is now retired from a long career in international chemical sales and marketing, which has taken him worldwide. Barnes is a U.S. Army 82nd Airborne Division veteran and an avid sailor. He lives in Charlotte MC., but spends summers with his wife Marg and cat Maggie at their cottage on St. Joseph Island, Ontario.