 Barlow was a trustee for over 20 years of the Barlow Collection of Oriental art collected by his father.In 1997 Barlow, along with his brother Sir Thomas Barlow, 3rd Baronet, was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters degree by the University of Sussex, who were bequeathed the Barlow Collection in 1968 on the death of Sir Alan.Barlow died in Cambridge from renal failure in 2005.