Thomas O. Barnes, chairman of Bristol’s Barnes Group Inc., will retire as a company employee at the end of the year, the aerospace-industrial manufacturer and distributor announced.
Barnes will continue as the company’s non-executive chairman as well as chairman of its charitable foundation.
He has been with Barnes Group for 24 years, the last nine as chairman. He is a fifth-generation member of the company’s founding family.
Barnes took over the chairman’s role from his father, Wallace Barnes, in 1995. His great-great-grandfather, also named Wallace Barnes, founded the company in 1857.
As of Feb. 14, Barnes was the company’s third-largest shareholder, with 3.17 million shares, or 5.9 percent of its total stock, according to a U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission filing.
