Barry Rand

Barry Rand, who in 1999 became one of the few African-American chief executives of a Fortune 500 company when he took control of Avis, the rental car company, after being passed over for the top job at Xerox, died November 7 2018 in an assisted living facility in Norwalk, Conn. He was 74. His wife, Donna (Holt) Rand, said the cause was Alzheimer’s disease. Addison Barry Rand was born Nov. 5, 1944, in Washington. His mother, Helen (Matthews) Rand, was an elementary school principal, and his father, also named Addison, was a postal clerk. After graduating from American University with a bachelor’s degree in marketing, Barry Rand got job offers from Xerox and several other companies whose executives he had contacted at a job fair in Washington. He was hired in 1968 as Xerox’s first black salesman in Washington and, over the years, formed support groups with other minority employees to sharpen their skills and share their experiences, he said in a 2010 interview with the alumni magazine of Stanford University. (He received a master’s degree in management science there while working at Xerox.) After Avis, he was subsequently hired for the top job at Equitant, an outsourcing company, and, after a brief retirement, at AARP, which is known for its vigorous lobbying for older Americans. He remained at AARP until 2014. In addition to his wife, Mr. Rand is survived by a daughter, Allison Rand, and a son, Christopher. (1) Private investor and President of Augustin Stables, Inc.