What is the Darrell Barton Foundation?
Doing The Right Things
For The Right Reasons.
THE DARRELL BARTON
FOUNDATION
What is the Darrell Barton Foundation?
Doing The Right Things
For The Right Reasons.
THE DARRELL BARTON
FOUNDATION
WHAT IS THE DARRELL BARTON FOUNDATION?
A story is told and a life changes. That’s what Darrell Barton strived to do. That’s the legacy he left to The Darrell Barton Foundation.
Visual time capsules come in many forms. Video, film, digital stills, film processed stills, digital art, and a changing media landscape that is ‘ripe’ for creative people. Images, however they are created, mold the future. Images of America’s Civil War are still affecting current generations. 1,000 years from now the images forged today will leave a visual history of a generation of people. It is through those images that future photojournalists may find their way. It is through those images that we learn about our society and ourselves.
Storytelling changes lives by exposing viewers and readers to content unavailable in their normal realm. The Darrell Barton Foundation invests in the people who document these stories on whatever media their talent lies. This foundation encourages talented people to continue Darrell Barton’s life mission, the mission of changing lives through storytelling.
The Darrell Barton Foundation will continue to be a force for years to come, encouraging students of promise and journalists with passion to take up the work and craft of photojournalism.
Why is the Barton Foundation in Existence?
Why is the Barton Foundation in Existence?
WHY DOES THE DARRELL BARTON
FOUNDATION EXIST?
Darrell Barton was a highly recognized network television photojournalist. Family, storytelling, gardening and old cars were also his passions. His work was celebrated world-wide. Yet the stories that touched him were those that impacted people’s lives.
The Darrell Barton Foundation is dedicated to doing the right things for the right reasons. All it takes are dedicated people with a passion to make that happen.
How Can You Get Assistance?
How Can You Get Assistance?
HOW CAN YOU GET ASSISTANCE?
Answer our questions honestly, with passion and dedication. Submit your current work and the goals you have that can only be accomplished by participation in the program you want supported. Believe in what The Darrell Barton Foundation believes in, and prove it.
Foundation Extra Page
Foundation Extra Page
Board of Directors
Board of Directors
Board of Directors
Board of Directors
Board of Directors
Sharon Levy
President
As a college senior I got the honor of escorting “Mr. Barton” during his visit to The University of Missouri. He told me I was very perky.
He followed up by saying, “I don’t like perky.”
This was the start of a lifelong friendship. Darrell Barton was my mentor, my substitute father and one of my dearest friends. He guided me through an incredible news photography career, taught me life lessons and allowed me to teach him a few in return.
As the President of TDBF I am dedicated to leading The Foundation in his name…a foundation perpetuating what Darrell Barton stood for…quality visual storytelling as a means to doing the right things for the right reasons.
Mark Zimmerman
Vice President
Associate Professor Mark Zimmerman is an award-winning photographer who has worked in editorial and commercial photography for the past 25 years. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Photography, and received a Masters in Education, both from UCO. He received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Oklahoma.
Professionally, he was chief photographer at the Edmond Sun, managing a staff of two full-time photojournalists. He has worked as a freelance photojournalist for the Associated Press, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Getty Images, and other publications. One of his photographs was published as a double-truck in Newsweek Magazine.
He has recently exhibited work in Tulsa, at the SOHO Photo Gallery in New York City, and at UCO’s Melton Gallery.
Darrell and Mark became friends years ago when Mark invited him to speak to one of his classes at UCO. They would frequently get together to talk about photography, old cars and antique cameras. Mark asked Darrell one time if he would consider critiquing his video work. Darrell responded "Let's not go there."
Marilyn Barton
Secretary/Treasurer
With a B.A. from Wichita State University in 1969, Marilyn Barton found Journalism to be her calling. It was there, in the Journalism Department, that the paths of Darrell and Marilyn crossed most often. They married in 1967. Marilyn’s work history includes classroom teaching, public relations, and working with Darrell on free-lance projects.
After he became a full time free-lancer in 1984, she managed the business and worked in the field at times with him. Like Darrell, Marilyn continues her commitment to teaching and service, especially for students of photojournalism. To continue his work, the family founded the Darrell Barton Foundation, Inc., to encourage others through scholarships funded through donations to the Foundation.
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Mike Simons
Director
Mike Simons is a Tulsa World staff photographer. He’s been there a total of 18 years, though not all at the same time He left for a brief stint as a freelancer in Cincinnati. Realizing he missed Tulsa, was lucky to return to his staff job at the World. Simons loves photography professionally and personally. He is married to Brandi Simons who is also a photographer. She teaches at at Tulsa Tech and is a freelance photographer. The Simons have 2 daughters Sonnie,16, and Sarah,13.
Mike Simons graduated from the University of Central Oklahoma with a degree in photographic arts/journalism. While at UCO he became friends with Darrell Barton's daughter Carrie Barton. Darrell decided to try and teach this still photographer how to shoot video the right way. He tried for year. Mike says he doesn’t know if Darrell ever succeeded, but Mike sure did learn a lot from him about video, journalism and life. Mike says he was honored to have Barton as a friend and mentor.
Judy Tygard
Director
Judy Tygard, a multi-award-winning journalist and producer, is the Executive Producer of CBS News’ 48 HOURS,
“48 HOURS is in my DNA,” Tygard said. “I joined as a producer in season two. We’re now in our 32nd season. I’m so proud of the work we do shining a light on the criminal justice system.” Since 2005, Tygard has served as a senior producer on 48 HOURS. In that role, she created 48 HOURS: “Live to Tell,” a short-run series that features first-person accounts of people who have survived horrific events. “Live to Tell” has earned awards for documenting the challenges facing a victim of sex trafficking and the struggle of a survivor of the 2016 Brussels terror attack.
Additionally, Tygard has been an integral producer in many of CBS News’ primetime specials, including the upcoming “Meghan and Harry Plus One” and the George Foster Peabody-nominated “39 Days,” a documentary about the student activist movement that followed the school shooting in Parkland, Fla. She was co-executive producer of the “The Gayle King Interview with R. Kelly,” and was key in the specials “Dan Rather: A Reporter Remembers” and “Flashpoint,” about the roadside attack in Iraq that killed CBS News cameraman Paul Douglas and soundman James Brolin.
Tygard’s work has been recognized with five Emmys, three Alliance for Women in Media Gracie Awards, the Sigma Delta Chi Award, Silver Gavel, Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award and the George Foster Peabody Award.
Tygard began her CBS News career as a writer for anchors Bob Schieffer and Morton Dean at the CBS EVENING NEWS weekend editions. She also worked at CBS THIS MORNING as a writer, copy editor, line producer and anchor producer. During her career, Tygard has covered a wide range of economic, political and international stories for CBS News such as the Moscow Summit, unrest in Cuba, Japan’s post-war reckoning, political conventions and the inaugurations of three presidents.
She joined 48 HOURS in 1989 as a producer. She left for a brief stint at ABC News and later returned to 48 HOURS.
Throughout her career, Tygard has focused on stories that examine the fairness of the judicial system, and has produced several editions of 48 HOURS centered on cases of the wrongfully accused. In 2018 she was part of the team behind “Defending DJ,” a report on an unarmed African-American college student shot to death by police, and the misleading narrative created in the aftermath. In 2016 she led a team that produced “Blaming Melissa,” a 48 HOURS report that uncovered new evidence and cast substantial doubt on the criminal confession of a young woman questioned by police for nine hours.
Tygard also spent eight years working with the team behind a series of reports on Ryan Ferguson, a Missouri man wrongfully convicted of murder, who later credited the broadcast with helping him gain his freedom. And in 2012, Tygard was the senior producer of “Grave Injustice,” an award-winning 48 HOURS about a man deprived of compensation by the State of Texas after spending 18 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit.
Tygard began her broadcasting career at WNEW-TV in New York, rising to broadcast producer for the station’s 10 PM newscast. She graduated magna cum laude from Emerson College.
Carrie Barton
Director
I am Darrell Barton's daughter. I am a practicing ER physician and mother to two wonderful boys. My father was always passionate about good journalism and about helping people, and I am proud to be a part of this foundation that is furthering both those interests.
Jackson Barton
Director
My name is Jackson Barton and I am the son of Darrell Barton. Growing up, I have, on occasion, helped him in front of and behind the camera. I can relate to and sympathize with his students a bit, in that way. As a father and teacher, he has always encouraged me to be better in everything I do.
While I am not currently in a journalism – adjacent field, I can tell you that my father’s influence made me a great believer in what makes this profession so noble and vital to the realization of a better world. Logic, tenacity, objectivity and passion are attributes that should be held by everyone who makes journalism their career. Our foundation seeks to make the attainment of proper training and preparation a little easier for those who want to make journalism their calling.