A poetic appointment

John Barr, an investment banker, college professor and published poet, was named the first president of the Poetry Foundation, which received a $100-million gift from Ruth E. Lilly, the drug company heiress, in November 2002.

A managing director and chairman of SG Barr Devlin and former managing director at Morgan Stanley, Barr also teaches poetry in the graduate writing program at Sarah Lawrence College.

“My dream is to see the foundation built and operated like a well-run company, a company whose business purpose is to provide an important home for American poetry,” Barr said in a statement.

The Chicago-based Poetry Foundation publishes Poetry magazine.

-- Louise Roug