Service in June for Tim Barclay

Tim Barclay of Lincoln passed away peacefully at home on April 7, 2026. He was raised in Scarsdale, N.Y., and spent his summers in Mantoloking, on Barnegat Bay in New Jersey.

Upon graduation from Princeton in 1951, Tim served three years in the U.S. Navy, including six months in Korea. In 1954, he was the navigator of the winning Navy Academy yawl “Lively” in the Newport to Bermuda sailing race. In 1959, he received his Ed.M. in science education from Harvard University.

In his career, Tim was an enthusiastic science and math educator. He taught math and physical sciences at Darrow School in the Berkshires (1954-58) and at Commonwealth School in Boston (1958-71). In 1971, he became headmaster of Cambridge Friends School, a K-8 school.

As Sputnik spurred science and math curriculum reform in the early 1960s, Tim became an original member of the Elementary Science Study program at MIT, developing curriculum and teacher training. Starting in 1980, he worked at the Technical Education Research Center.

Tim was an active member of the Cambridge Friends Meeting, an avid writer, bird watcher, tennis player, sailor, baroque recorder player, and activist for environmental and social justice. He was a warm and welcoming person who took an active interest in others.

He is predeceased by his first wife and mother of his four children, Ann Arter Barclay; his partner, Antonia Stone; and his second wife, Elizabeth Taylor. He is survived by his four children, William, Mary, David, and Jeanne, his sister Barbara Ritter, and five grandchildren. He will be buried in the Lincoln Cemetery. 

The memorial service will be held on Saturday,  June 20 at noon at the First Parish in Lincoln (14 Bedford Road). He will be buried privately in the Lincoln Cemetery. Tim requested that any gifts be made to organizations fighting climate change.

Arrangements are under the care of Concord Funeral Home, which provided this obituary. To sign his online guest book, click here.