George Frederick Baer


George Frederick Baer
Birthday
BirthplaceLavansville, Pennsylvania
Died
OccupationLawyer, railroad executive
Known for President of Philadelphia and Reading Railroad

Baer, George Frederick

(bâr), 1842–1914, American financier, b. Somerset co., Pa. Baer became legal adviser to J. Pierpont Morgan and held many posts as a key figure in the railroad-and-coal empire. He is remembered for his refusal to arbitrate in the strike of the anthracite-coal miners in 1902.

Baer, George Frederick

(1842–1914) lawyer, railroad executive; born near Lavansville, Pa. He worked as a printer's devil for, then later owned, a Somerset County, Pa., newspaper. He interrupted law studies to serve in the Civil War (1862–64). He served as legal counsel for the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad, and later was president of the organization that managed all the Reading holdings. An associate of the financier J. P. Morgan, he gained notoriety in 1902 when, taking a hard line on a United Mine Workers strike, he argued that propertied classes rather than labor unions were best fitted to look after workers' interests. He left a fortune of $15 million when he died.