Barry Cunningham, founder and chairman of Big Barry’s Discount Appliances died of a heart attack Wednesday morning while attending a Washer and Dryer Expo near Detroit, Michigan.

Cunningham, 69, was a familiar face, with his likeness painted on the side of his local appliance stores in Delaware and southern Pennsylvania.

“He will surely be missed,” said Rodney Roosevelt, manager of the Route 13 store near Christiana.

According to Roosevelt, Cunningham had a liver transplant several years ago and was in poor health ever since.

Cunningham entered the appliance business after working in his father’s grocery store, Roosevelt said. He opened his first store on Concorde Pike in Wilmington in 1972.

“He was aware of the times and changes in economic and social trends,” he said. “He based the business on these trends.”

The appliance store chain now consists of 19 stores in Delaware and one in Pennsylvania, according to Susan McConnel, a spokeswoman for Big Barry’s.

As his business grew, Cunningham did not forget his employees, said Ronnie Harp, assistant manager of the College Square store in Newark. “He was a good man to work for, he made sure he knew everyone,” he added. “He took time to shake your hand.”

“Before he was sick, he was in the stores all the time,” said Diane Rowse, a clerk at the Newark store. “He always had something nice to say to everybody,” she said.

“Sometimes he would come in and work the floors and talk to customers,” Roosevelt said. “The man would stand beside you. He made you feel good.”

“I worked for the man for 15 years, he had a lot of concern for his employees,” Roosevelt added. “He was a friend.”

Cunningham contributed considerably to local charities, Roosevelt continued. He sponsored several little league teams across Delaware, a home for battered women in Pennsylvania, and a food bank in Wilmington.

“Big Barry” as he was known to his customers and employees, will probably be best remembered by the people who were closest to him, for his easy going personality and his sense of humor.

When a group of graffiti artists vandalized his likeness on stores up and down Route 13, by adding a mustache and goatee to his countenance, Big Barry obliged by letting his facial hair grow in accordingly.

“For some time he was known as the Colonel Sanders of washers and dryers,” reminisced John Kline, manager of the Kirkwood Highway store. Eventually the stores were repainted and Barry shaved.

Cunningham is survived by his wife Denise, his son Joseph and his daughter Marjorie, all of Wilmington, McConnel said.

Joseph Cunningham is the president of the appliance store chain, and will assume control of the business, McConnel explained.

Cunnigham’s funeral will be held 10 a.m. Friday at Wilmington’s St. Thomas the Apostle Church, 301 North Bancroft Parkway. All Big Barry’s stores will be closed for the day.

In lieu of flowers, donations should be made to the Delaware Liver Fund.

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Big Barry Cunningham’s obituary appeared in all of the Wilmington and Delmarva newspapers in more or less the same form. But the most interesting aspect of Big Barry’s life was not mentioned in any of them.

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2015 Kurt Van Buren