Joseph Louis Baer

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OSEPH LOUIS BAER succumbed to aeute leukemia u!l Dee. t'l, 1954. Ht~ was born in Chicago on April 29, 1H80. After completion of public schooling he entered Cornell University fur undergraduate study but returned home to enter the University of Chicago fo1· his premedical preparation. In 190:! he was awarded the degree of B.S. and in 1903 the degree of M.S. He received his medical degree from Rush J•Iedieal C~ollege in 1904 an.d then entered the service of Michael Reese Hospital for his internship and resident training. This he followed with a year's graduate study under Bumm in Berlin and Schauta in Vienna. After his return to Chicago in 1908 to enter private practice, he rejoined the staff of the Michael Reese Hospital and in 1936 was appointed Senior Attending Gynecologist and Obstetrician and Chief of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. His colleagues respected and admired him for his skill and his forthrightness, as well as for his ability to teach and to train the residents. In 1917 Dr. Baer was appointed an instructor in Obstetrics and Gyne(·ology by Rush Medical College and served until 1946, when he was retired as Professor Emeritus. At the fiftieth reunion of his graduating elass he received the well-deserved award for distinguished service. Dr. Baer contributed liberally to medical literature and for many ye_ars served on the Maternal Welfare Committee of Cook County, the Infant Welfare Society of Chicago, and the Blue Cross Plan's Board of Directors. The Chicago Gynecological Society, The Chicago Institute of Medicine, and the American Gynecological Society honored him with their presidency. He not only helped in founding the American Board of Obstetrics anrl Gyneeology, but for many years served as its vice-president and a member of its Board of Directors. He was honored by Sigma Xi in 1903 and by Alpha Omega Alpha in .l:JV'I:. He was a Life Fellow of the American Gynecological Society, the American College of Surgeons, the Chicago Gynecological Society, the Central Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the Illinois State Medical Society, and the Chicago Medical Society. In 1950 devoted patients and friends endowed a lectureship in his honor kno,vn as the Joseph I-1. Baer I:ectures of the Chicago Gynecological Society. No member of our profession could have had a more devoted following than Dr. Baer, and certainly no more devoted associates to help him in earing for them. To be counted among his intimates was a privilege indeed. and, certainly, there was no more sincere friend than Joe Baer. In his private life. Dr. Baer was the center of a large, diverse, and deeply devoted family to whom he gave aid, comfort, and love without measure. By precept and example he taught his (~hildren the art of meeting life's prohlems '\Vith courage and determination. IIis d-evotion to his v;ife, Janet, \vho survives him. was well known. He had a tremendous capacity for making friends but he never employed it for selfish gain. His colleagues considered him a shining example of an ideal physician and a staunch defender of ethical practiee. L1tdwig A. E1nge n:~o