Baer, George F. - 04/26/1914

Geo. F. Baer Dies;

Head of P and R and Coal holdings. Never Rallied After Having Been Stricken On Way to Office on Saturday

George F. Baer, president of the Philadelphia and Reading Railway, and one of the leading railroad and coal mining authorities in the United States, died in his city home, 1718 Spruce street, at 7.43 o'clock last night. Mr. Baer was 72 years old and his death was directly due to uraemic poisoning. Heavy burdens which he willingly shouldered in the interest of stockholders owning the Reading's vast properties superinduced the collapse of Mr. Baer at Fifteenth and Walnut streets on Saturday while on the way to his office, his physicians declared. Except for a few brief moments of semi-consciousness, Mr. Baer was in a state of coma from the time he fell to the sidewalk until he breathed his last. Mrs. Baer, her five daughters and sons-in-law were at the bedside of the husband and father when he died. Dr. William F. Muhlenberg, of Reading, Pa., a life-long friend, was also at the death-bed. They had maintained a death watch from Saturday afternoon, realizing that Mr. Baer's demise was only a matter of hours. News of the death of the head of the Reading system and the Reading Coal and Iron Company spread along the Reading Lines with great rapidity. Soon after Mr. Baer had passed away messages of condolence began to be received by the family by the scores. At an early hour this morning telegrams were received at the house from some of the country's most prominent men.