Brian Jerome Baker, a kind and loving son and brother, a vibrant, energetic soul with a shining smile and a heart cast from pure gold, has died. He was 31.
Brian was born into this world on June 2, 1989 in Youngstown, Ohio, on the eve of his mother’s birthday. He left this world on October 19, 2020, in Port Clinton, Ohio, near the waters of Lake Erie. He was and is loved dearly and deeply by two fantastic parents in Denise Ayers and George Baker, and two brothers in Nicholas and Michael. The three boys were born in a span of less than four years. Countless fires were set among them. These fires resulted in no serious damage. Local fire departments were involved only a small handful of times.
Brian loved the water. He often referred to the islands near the Marblehead Peninsula as his own little slice of paradise. He had recently moved to Port Clinton to begin a new phase of his joyous life near the lake. He was an avid fisherman, sportsman, and power boater. And it’s important that we emphasize the “power” part, because he loved pummeling horsepower, blazing hot engines, the smell of gasoline fumes, and pure speed.
Brian drove ATVs, dirt bikes, motorcycles, motor scooters, sports cars, big trucks, power boats, farm tractors — if it had a functioning engine, he would open the throttle until the vehicle reached its terminal point of performance. He once told his father, as he filled his young lungs with the smell of spent diesel while they drove in the wake of a city bus, that he loved “that smell.” He couldn’t have been older than 5 when he realized he was a motorhead by nature.
He was a shooter with more firearms than he could count. It was likely the smell of the gunpowder, as much as the sheer mechanical fury, that attracted him to the sport of shooting.
Yet despite his affinity for all things combustible, he was sweet and gentle, and loved nature and animals. As a child, he had three cats — first Tiger, then Chester, and later Lucky, a strong and resilient cat that Brian rescued, who lived at his Baba’s house. During his adolescent and teenage years, he had a golden retriever named Bailey, who was his pride and joy, and probably his favorite living being on this earth.
As a child he attended E.J. Blott Elementary School in Liberty and St. Rose School in Girard. He graduated from Ursuline High School (Youngstown) in 2007, and with a bachelor’s degree in Construction Management and Technology from Kent State University in 2011. He worked as an Area Service and Warranty Manager at Pulte Homes from 2012-2017, as an Installed Sales Manager at 84 Lumber from 2017-2020, and he was recently hired to manage boat maintenance at South Shore Marine in the Great Lakes Region of Ohio.
Brian is survived by his parents and brothers, by his grandmothers, Luba Baker and Virginia O’Hara, both of Youngstown, John Ayers and by his aunts, uncles and cousins — notably his cousin Jennifer, who in so many ways was his best friend and favorite person in the world — and his girlfriend, Jen, who was a recent beam of light in his life. Many of these people would give absolutely anything to see his genuine smile one last time.
A funeral service was held on Saturday, October 24, 2020, at Edward J. Fox & Sons Funeral Home in Boardman, celebrated by Rev. Edward P. Noga. There was a memorial luncheon after the service at Overture in Downtown Youngstown, followed by a wake at his father’s home in Liberty.
Interment will be at Calvary Cemetery buried with his uncle Danny.
Brian will be missed intensely and immensely by so many.
Rest In Peace. Rest In Power.
Arrangements have been entrusted to the Fox Funeral Home 4700 Market St. Boardman.
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