Our hearts are heavy, as our dear friend Fred Baron passed away on 12/31/12. Fred was our Engineering Manager for over 17 years. He was a friend, husband, father, and mentor. He will be greatly missed.
A funny thing happened on the way to retirement 17 years ago for our engineering manager Fred Baron...he didn't. I met Fred around 1978 at his company Sun Coast Design Services. Fred was designing and making all of the air operated equipment that formed, bent or shaped the products at Medical Product Development Incorporated. MPDI was the first company that through a variety of steps became Aaron Medical and ultimately merged with Bovie Medical Corporation.
We were in the process of expanding the product line and Fred was designing the equipment we needed. I remember stepping into his building in Clearwater, Florida going past Ruth his receptionist, stepping over his dog Tramp laying next to his desk, and sitting down with Fred. He had the ability to visualize not only the product, but the equipment that was used to form it. In the early days they also did all of our drawings. That was prior to CAD. The designer stood with a pencil and physically drew the parts. He did work for other medical companies in the area, a defense contractor as well as Campbell's Soup. I will come back to the soup company as part of my favorite "Fred story" later. We worked together with Fred and his shop for the next decade.
Fred was great at figuring out how to do things better, but the day to day payroll and taxes was one of the things he didn't enjoy at all. Periodically Fred would call and ask for an advance to take care of taxes or some other cash flow issue, and since he was always doing something for us it wasn't a problem. As the 1990's came around Fred talked more and more about retirement. Eventually we determined that buying the machine shop made the most sense and we shook hands on a deal in November of 1995. Part of that deal was that Fred had to help with the transition and work with us for a year. We moved the shop into our facility in St. Petersburg, Florida and Fred came to work to fulfill his obligation. It didn't take Fred long to realize that this new job let him do what he enjoyed and put the responsibility of all payables, including taxes in the accounting department. Initially we kept some of his outside work, but eventually had to phase that out because we were busier and busier and needed all of his attention.
OK, my favorite Fred story....While Fred was still running his shop in Clearwater, a group from Campbell's Soup came to see how an automated system he was designing for them was coming along. Fred was giving his presentation when Tramp came up and barked at him. If you remember Tramp was the dog I stepped over the first time I met Fred. Fred told him to go lay down, and he did. Ten minutes later Tramp came back and barked at Fred again. Fred still talking with the soup guys once again tells Tramp to go lay down. Ten more minutes pass and Tramp walk up to Fred who still is talking to the group, hikes his leg, and relieves himself on Fred's leg. I couldn't make that up, you know it is true...
As I type this blog, Fred has begun his 17th year with us. He is our oldest employee chronologically at 79, holds the title of Engineering Manager, has responsibility for all functions related to the CAD department and staff therein. He also assists in the development of new machine requirements and the design functions of new products.
We are thrilled to have Fred as part of the Bovie Medical Corporation team, at least until he retires.
J. Robert Saron
President, Bovie Medical Corporation
