Orinda CA

Barbara Ann Gallagher died following a long illness on January 19th, 2025 in Orinda, Ca., at age 68. “Barb” was a rare practitioner of witty, civilized discourse in an era riven by humorless, ignorant ideological fanatics. Although a parapsychology enthusiast and board trustee for the American Society for Psychical Research (ASPR), she listened empathetically to those skeptical of such “far-out topics.” An inspiration to the young, she spent several decades as a NASA-credentialed reporter and a roving producer-journalist for TV and magazines, including Scientific American and Omni Magazine. Her friends included the famed space writer Martin Caidin and a number of astronauts. Also, she closely advised the author of the first major biography of space scientist Carl Sagan.

For several decades, Barbara investigated parapsychological phenomena including “remote viewing.” She has appeared on and consulted for numerous media outlets including Fox, Paramount, NBC, The Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel, the Tokyo Broadcasting System, and others.

Barbara's 20-year-old niece Alex Formoso vividly recalls “Auntie Bar”’s influence on her. As a child Alex hoped to become a marine biologist. “She had me draw her a picture of the submarine I planned to live in, and made me promise to take her on a tour of the ocean inside it. Years later, when I was in my mid-teens, I told her that I had since given up on that, and now I wanted to be a librarian. She reminded me about the submarine, and of my promise. ‘It's not too late,’ she said to me, ‘pivot, pivot!’” Nowadays, whenever Alex is about to give up on a dream, “I hear her in my head repeating to me, ‘pivot, pivot!’”

Barbara “deeply cared about profound questions,” remembers Patrice Keane, ASPR executive director, "including: how mind is related to matter, energy, space and time and in what unexplained ways we interconnect with the universe and each other? … She is and always will be a treasured part of our history.” Her fellow board member Keith Harary called her a“brilliant colleague …Despite the incredible pain she lived with, she lit up the world and the lives of those who were blessed with the gift of knowing her.” In a posthumous “letter” to Barbara, Harary added: “Your deep sense of compassion and justice, your ethical commitment to real, honest science, and your unique sense of humor brought endless happiness into my life and into this world.

Your advice sometimes made me furious -sometimes made me wonder if you had finally lost your mind - but you were always ahead of the rest of us, always unwavering in your perceptions - and always incredibly right.” He looks forward to seeing Barb again in another life, where they will laugh about their mutual love of pranks and watch “a vast film fest of Dark Star, along with Godzilla, Doug McClure, and zombie movies of every variety."

In the Foreword to “Carl Sagan: A Life,” a 1999 biography of space scientist and arch-skeptic Carl Sagan, the San Francisco Examiner science writer Jennifer Keay Davidson testified to Barbara’s emotional and intellectual influence. With one exception, Davidson wrote, “my closest confidante in this project was my friend Barbara Gallagher. She carefully read the entire manuscript and made numerous shrewd suggestions, especially on psychological issues and the history and philosophy of science. She also brought to the project her great warmth, humor, and energy, which made the bad times easier."

Barbara also explored human perception and the ability to cope with extraordinary experiences, including the experience of music. Her TV work includes her co-production of three shows based on the experiential impact of music by world-class percussionist greats at the Buddy Rich Memorial Scholarship Concert in Las Vegas.

Barbara had over 15 years’ experience in clinical and psychiatric treatment settings, handling emergency and crisis situations, conducting clinical assessments and diagnostic evaluation, and providing recommendations for patient care. She served as a research associate at the Institute for Advanced Psychology in Vancouver, Washington.

Davidson now recalls an evening when he and Barbara dined at an Orinda restaurant, and a former patient approached Barb to thank her for helping her survive a teenage crisis years earlier. “In an era when so many feel desperately alone and terrified of the future, Barb was happy to guide anyone she could into a more hopeful life. For many years, she was the only real ‘light’ in my life,” Davidson says.

Barb’s lecture topics have included “Psychological Aspects of Field Investigations” and “Ethics in Documentary and Investigative Media.” She served on the ASPR board of the ASPR from 2017 onward.

Her friend Michael Smith of Idaho Falls, Idaho recalls Barb “an example of how to power through adversity and pain. And she made me more patient and understanding when even she was overwhelmed by what the universe dealt her.

Barbara was predeceased by her father, James Holman Gallagher, and her sister, Mary Jo Gallagher. She is survived by her mother, Barbara John Gallagher, and her sister, Sandralee McCabe. She also leaves two nieces, Jennifer Formoso and Cassie McCabe, and two nephews, David Formoso and Scott Wilson, as well as two grand-nieces, Alex Formoso and Mia Wilson.

Barbara was an ardent genealogist and was able to trace the history of the various strands of the families from the 1200’s in the Old Swiss Confederacy, to Scotland, England, Ireland and, ultimately, the United States. Some arriving before the American Revolution, some fleeing the Potato Famine, serving on both sides of the Civil War, working coal mines in Montana, farming in Alabama and Georgia, and in the 1900’s settled in California in time to experience the San Francisco 1906 earthquake. Barbara was the third generation in Contra Costa County, her parents opened Contra Costa Appliance in Walnut Creek in 1949 and Barb was born on April 26th, 1956. She spent her childhood in Orinda and, after years of research in various parts of the States and Ireland, returned to Orinda for the last several decades to live in the family home built by her father and grandfather.

Barb will be missed by family, friends and colleagues, alike.