John Barlow

John Perry Barlow (October 3, 1947 – February 7, 2018) was an American poet, essayist, cattle rancher, and cyberlibertarian[1] political activist who had been associated with both the Democratic and Republican parties. He was also a lyricist for the Grateful Dead, a founding member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Freedom of the Press Foundation, and an early fellow at Harvard University's Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society.Early life and education

Barlow was born near Cora, Wyoming,[3] as the only child of Norman Walker Barlow (1905–1972),[4][5] a Republican state legislator, and his wife, Miriam "Mim" Adeline Barlow Bailey (née Jenkins; 1905–1999),[6] who married in 1929.[7]

Barlow's paternal ancestors were Mormon pioneers.[7] He grew up on Bar Cross Ranch near Pinedale, Wyoming, a 22,000-acre (8,900 ha) property his great-uncle founded in 1907, and attended elementary school in a one-room schoolhouse. Raised as a devout Mormon, he was prohibited from watching television until the sixth grade, when his parents allowed him to "absorb televangelists".[8][9]

Although Barlow's academic record was erratic throughout his secondary education, he "had his pick of top eastern universities... simply because he was from Wyoming, where few applications originated."[10] In 1969, he graduated from Wesleyan University's College of Letters.[11] He claimed to have served as Wesleyan's student body president until the administration "tossed him into a sanitarium" following a drug-induced attempted suicide attack in Boston, Massachusetts.[8][10] After two weeks of rehabilitation, he returned to his studies.[10] In his senior year, he became a part-time resident of New York City's East Village and immersed himself in Andy Warhol's Factory demimonde, cultivating a friendship with Rene Ricard and developing a brief addiction to heroin.