In Memoriam

Carol A. Baer, PhD
Class of '68

Carol A. Baer, Ph.D., a member of the Class of 1968, and a nurse, researcher, educator, author and mentor, died Feb. 4, 2008, in her Medfield, MA home after a long, courageous struggle against cancer. She was 61.

Born in Newark, NJ to Alvin E. and Irene Baer on April 12, 1946, Carol and her three siblings were raised in Livingston, NJ. After graduating from SJC with a degree in nursing, she completed a master’s degree in public health at Yale University. After working for a number of years in Boston-area hospitals and teaching, Carol earned a Ph.D. from Boston College School of Nursing, Chestnut Hill, MA.

Early in her career, Carol served at Veterans Administration Medical Centers, first as a nurse manager in a stroke unit, and then as a clinical specialist in spinal cord injury. During a seven-year tenure at New England Deaconess Hospital in Boston, Carol guided, educated and mentored novice to expert practitioners and students in clinical assessment and intervention, ethics of care, and organizational change. She then worked as an advanced practitioner at Health Management Resources in Boston, after which she joined VNA Care Plus Inc. as a nurse researcher. From 1998 until the time of her death, she was corporate manager of research and development at Partners HealthCare System in Boston.

Carol held academic appointments at a number of schools, authored or co-authored numerous articles for professional medical publications, and lectured at nursing conferences nationwide. But it was her compassionate approach to people that most distinguished her, said colleague and friend Stacey Barone. “Carol’s compassion was selfless; she allowed herself to truly feel and understand what another individual feels. Compassion shaped her world view; it provided her with the motivation and the energy to work with the most challenging of life’s events.”

Carol was pre-deceased by her parents. Her husband of 28 years, Stephen P. Bowen III; two sisters, Arlene Baer Palmiter of Wilmington, VT, and Marilyn J. Baer of Camden, ME; a brother, Robert E. Baer of Anchorage, AL; and several nieces and nephews survive her. The family suggested memorial donations to Women for Women International, womenforwomen.org.

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