Barend "Barry" van Gerbig (born 1939) is an US millionaire socialite best known as the owner of the National Hockey League's

National Hockey League

The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...

 California Seals.

Early life

Van Gerbig was born in New York City as the son of attorney Howell van Gerbig and his wife Dorothy Fell van Gerbig He attended Princeton University

Princeton University

Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

, graduating in 1961. At Princeton, he played for the school's ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 squad as goaltender

Goaltender

In ice hockey, the goaltender is the player who defends his team's goal net by stopping shots of the puck from entering his team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring...

. After graduation he briefly played minor league hockey for the Charlotte Checkers and Des Moines Oak Leafs

Des Moines Oak Leafs

The Des Moines Oak Leafs were a minor league professional ice hockey team from Des Moines, Iowa, playing at Des Moines Ice Arena. The Oak Leafs were members of the United States Hockey League from 1961 to 1963, and the International Hockey League from 1963 to 1972...

. Afterward, he worked on Wall Street

Wall Street

Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...

, owning stock in Union Carbide

Union Carbide

Union Carbide Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company. It currently employs more than 2,400 people. Union Carbide primarily produces chemicals and polymers that undergo one or more further conversions by customers before reaching consumers. Some are high-volume...

 and Standard Oil of New Jersey.

Involvement in the NHL

Van Gerbig was a friend of a number of NHL owners, including Bruce Norris

Bruce Norris

Bruce Arthur Norris was owner of the Detroit Red Wings from 1952 to 1982. He was the son of James E. Norris and half-brother of James D. Norris. Members of the Norris family owned the Red Wings for almost fifty years before selling the franchise to Mike Ilitch in 1982. Bruce and Marguerite Norris...

 of the Detroit Red Wings

Detroit Red Wings

The Detroit Red Wings are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League , and are one of the Original Six teams of the NHL, along with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, New York...

, Weston Adams

Weston Adams

Weston W. Adams was the director of the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League and son of fellow Hall-of-Famer Charles Adams....

 of the Boston Bruins

Boston Bruins

The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The team has been in existence since 1924, and is the league's third-oldest team and its oldest in the...

 (and his attorney, Charles Mulcahy), and William Jennings

William Jennings

William Jennings may refer to:*William Jennings , mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah, USA*William Dale Jennings, American author of The Cowboys, The Ronin, and The Sinking of the Sarah Diamond*William M...

 of the New York Rangers

New York Rangers

The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the borough of Manhattan in New York, New York, USA. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . Playing their home games at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers are one of the...

. Mulcahy had suggested van Gerbig buy into the Bruins' Western Hockey League

Western Hockey League

The Western Hockey League is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitute the Canadian Hockey League as the highest level of junior hockey in Canada...

 affiliate, the San Francisco Seals

San Francisco Seals (WHL)

The San Francisco Seals were a minor league hockey team which played in the Western Hockey League from 1961 to 1967.-Pro hockey returns to California:...

 as a way of getting in on a planned expansion of the NHL in 1967. Van Gerbig assembled a group of what would eventually be 52 investors, including singer Bing Crosby

Bing Crosby

Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....

 (his godfather

Godparent

A godparent, in many denominations of Christianity, is someone who sponsors a child's baptism. A male godparent is a godfather, and a female godparent is a godmother...

), San Francisco 49ers

San Francisco 49ers

The San Francisco 49ers are a professional American football team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team was founded in 1946 as a charter member of the All-America Football Conference and...

 quarterback John Brodie

John Brodie

John Riley Brodie is a former professional American football quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, and had a second career as a Senior PGA Tour professional golfer.-Early years and education:...

, Ice Follies

Ice Follies

Shipstads & Johnson Ice Follies was a touring ice show featuring elaborate production numbers, similar in concept to Ice Capades. It was founded in 1937 by Eddie Shipstad, Roy Shipstad, and Oscar Johnson, who also skated in the show. In later years, Olympic skaters such as Donald Jackson, Barbara...

 owner Virgil Sherrill and Nelson Doubleday, Jr.

Nelson Doubleday, Jr.

Nelson Doubleday, Jr. was the president of Doubleday. He was instrumental in the company's purchase of the New York Mets in 1980. He served as chairman of the Mets' board during the team's rise to its 1986 World Series title. In 1986, he and Fred Wilpon bought the team from the publishing company...

  After owning the WHL Seals (relocated to Oakland due to arena issues) in 1966-67, the Seals entered the NHL. Due to poor attendance van Gerbig attempted to sell the team three times, including Labatt Brewing Company

Labatt Brewing Company

Labatt Brewing Company Ltd. is a Canadian beer company founded by John Kinder Labatt in 1847 in London, Ontario. In 1995, it was purchased by Belgian brewer Interbrew; it is now part of Anheuser-Busch InBev...

, who intended to relocate the team to Vancouver

Vancouver

Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

, but that and a subsequent deal with Woolworth's

F. W. Woolworth Company

The F. W. Woolworth Company was a retail company that was one of the original American five-and-dime stores. The first successful Woolworth store was opened on July 18, 1879 by Frank Winfield Woolworth in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, as "Woolworth's Great Five Cent Store"...

 heirs Northrup and Seymour Knox

Seymour Knox

Seymour Horace Knox III was a philanthropist and sports entrepreneur. He owned the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League from their foundation in 1970 to his death in 1996, and served as chairman of the team. He was the grandson of Seymour H. Knox I, the F.W...

 were rejected by the NHL. A third sale to Trans National Communications did go through in 1969, but when they missed a payment to van Gerbig, fell into default, with the Seals reverting to van Gerbig. In the end, van Gerbig sold the team to Charlie O. Finley in 1970.

Personal life

Van Gerbig married Victoria Susan Fairbanks, daughter of Douglas Fairbanks, Jr in 1965. They had two children, Barry and Elizabeth (born 1966 and 1968, respectively). He and Victoria divorced in 1977. He has residences on Long Island

Long Island

Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...

 and West Palm Beach.