Barney Brenner grew up in New York City and has been a resident of Pima County since 1972.
He graduated from Francis Lewis High School, lettering in varsity handball and bowling.
Barney had an early start in the working world by helping out at his dad’s dry cleaning store in Brooklyn. During his early teens, he ran three newspaper delivery routes every day and also started a business doing paneling and other minor remodeling for neighbors.
Arriving in Tucson at age 20 with little money and a dying VW van, he became interested in auto repair. Friends soon started asking for help with their cars and within two years, Barney bought a small property on East Prince Road near North First Avenue and opened a repair shop. He designed and built a three-bay garage addition on the property a few years later.
Barney married the former Carole Dickinson in 1976, and while they were still in their twenties, they designed, and Barney built, the home they lived in until Carole’s untimely death in 1995.
In 1982, after expanding into engine building and machine work, Barney’s company was featured in the Arizona Daily Star “Neighbors” section for its exceptional customer service. Barney would help do-it-yourselfers, even teaching them to assemble their own engines. He would do the precision machining, answer their questions, and sell them parts from his growing inventory.
When Mr. Brenner moved into the retail store and warehouse he built on West Prince Road near Romero, the company became a full-scale auto parts operation, Barney’s Import Parts.
Three weeks after 9/11, Mr. Brenner bought a struggling competitor’s auto parts store and turned the company around, despite the difficult economy. He duplicated that feat with another store purchased in December 2003. In 2005, when Barney was 53, he sold the 30-employee, three-store chain and retired.
Mr. Brenner has completed a number of other building projects of his own including, just last year, a garage and workshop at the west-side home where he and the former Sharon Tucker live. They were married at that home in December 2000.
Because of his personal construction endeavors, Barney is familiar with Tucson and Pima County building permit processes, having been down that path more than a dozen times.
In addition to his other activities, Mr. Brenner developed an interest in local politics. In 1996 he was campaign manager for David Morales when the former Marana Town Councilman and Legislative District 11 Chairman made a run for the Arizona State Senate.
In 1999, Barney walked precincts, gathered signatures, installed signs, and helped with fundraising and photography in Tucson Mayor Bob Walkup’s first campaign. In 2001 Mr. Brenner was elected president of the Pima County Republican Club and held the office for three years.
Barney’s other accomplishments include earning a black belt in American Tae Kwon Do karate and a United States patent for a VW heating system, which has sold in the thousands to date. He earned a commercial pilot’s license for hot-air-balloon flight, and has helped to raise thousands of dollars by donating balloon rides to dozens of local charities.
He has been a volunteer with Big Brothers/Big Sisters, and he was a columnist for the Tucson Citizen in 2006 for their inaugural “My Tucson” series. He has also had numerous other op-eds published in both the Citizen and the Arizona Daily Star.
Barney announced in March 2008 that he is a candidate for the District 3 seat on the Pima County Board of Supervisors. Ora Mae Harn, the former Mayor of Marana, is his Campaign Chairman.
