Alumni Bulletin - Fall 2007 - (Page 32)

Sex and the City featured Newel’s French 1940s bleached sleigh side low back settee with white satin upholstery. Below; a pair of Italian Renaissance style painted glass windows appeared in the movie Reversal of Fortune really didn’t have any interest in coming into the family business at the time,” he says. But a year later, his grandfather passed away, and having spent his summers and vacations working at Newel, Baer was the one most familiar with the business. Plus, he says, “I wasn’t too keen on the accounting world, although I learned a lot.” During his more than three decades at the helm of the business (Baer bought out the other family members in 2001, becoming president and CEO), he has overseen the transition from an enterprise primarily interested in rentals to one based largely on sales. “It took some time for us to change our reputation,” he says. Baer says his accounting degree has been imperative to his success running the Newel gallery. “The most important thing that has changed in my business since my grandfather started it is the Internet and technology,” he says. “You wouldn’t necessarily put the Internet with antiques, but it is the best thing since apple pie. We have such a huge inventory—20,000 objects—and I was able to take my accounting mentality and design a computer system that can account for everything we have. “I designed a program that keeps everything organized and tracked, so that a potential customer can go online, search for what he or she wants, and see immediately what we have to offer and what is currently in stock.” Baer’s program is so effective, in fact, that Forbes magazine has recognized Newel gallery as “The Best of the Web” in the antiques category, an acknowledgment that Baer says is a great affirmation that he has effectively moved the business into the 21st century. But just as important, Baer says, he loves what he’s doing. “It’s a fun business,” he says. “I do as a vocation what most people do for an avocation.” Baer has shown his appreciation to Lehigh in numerous ways. He is a member of the Lehigh Leadership Council and served as reunion fund chair for his 35th class reunion in May. He also has generously shared his vocation with students. In addition to the visit by Forsyth’s furniture class, Baer allowed the theatre department to borrow antiques for the spring production of Three Sisters. (See sidebar, page 33.) His love of Lehigh has been passed along to the next generation of his family as well. His son, Noah, graduated from Lehigh in the spring with degrees in finance and political science. He is now attending the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York City. Baer and his wife, Lorraine, also have a son, Jake, who is a sophomore at Marist College, and daughter Gabriella, who is in the ninth grade at Dwight-Englewood School in New Jersey. Baer also serves as a trustee for Dwight-Englewood. Forsyth, who organized the New York trip both to revel in what the Newel gallery has to offer and to kick off a project for which the students chose a piece of furniture to inspire their own design, calls Baer “a real inspiration. “It is so valuable for students to see what kinds of interesting lives alumni lead,” Forsyth says. “He’s been so generous with his time and his resources, taking so much time to share the objects with the students. You could see the excitement on their faces as they looked at these pieces, and I just knew they would make wonderful work inspired by what they had experienced, thanks to him.” The feeling was certainly mutual. “I was so impressed by the Lehigh students,” Baer says. “They were so bright and had their eyes wide open, they asked good questions, and they really absorbed a lot of the things we have. If they take one thing away from their experience here, I hope it is an appreciation of antiques. I don’t want them to pigeonhole antiques as something old and stuffy. Antiques are diverse and go the full gamut from yesterday to tomorrow.” LU 32 lehigh alumni bulletin PHOTOS COURTESY OF NEWEL CORP.

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Alumni Bulletin - Fall 2007

Table of Contents From the President's Desk Mailbox On Campus Arts & Culture Sports Research Cover Story - Forward March Little Man Overcomes Huge Odds Lights, Camera...Antiques Linderman Renewed From the Publisher's Desk Alumni News

Alumni Bulletin - Fall 2007

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