The Honorable Phillip Allan Baird, retired Common Pleas Judge, Medina County, died on Sunday, September 16, 2007, at MetroHealth Medical Center, Cleveland.

Born in Elyria, March 1, 1923, to Madge and Dow Baird, Phillip attended Hiram College until his enlistment in the Navy in 1943. He served as an officer during World War II on the destroyer USS Laffey in the Pacific and was later attached to the Marine Corps as a gunnery officer during the Korean War. Honorably discharged from the Naval Reserve in 1967, he had attained the rank of Lieutenant Commander.

After the end of World War II, he graduated from Hiram College and was in the first graduating class from Akron University School of Law. After several years in private practice, he was elected to the bench and served as Common Pleas judge in Medina County from 1975 to 1996.

After retirement he served as a criminal, civil and juvenile judge by appointment in Ohio until his 80th birthday. He was respected in the legal community as a jurist and as a man of integrity.

Throughout his life, he was an avid fly fisherman, golfer, tennis player and Buckeye fan. He was inducted into the Hiram College Football Hall of Fame.

He was a loving husband, father and grandfather and doted on his canine companions, especially his beagle, Ginger. As a member of the ASPCA, the National Humane Society, the World Wild Life Fund, Greenpeace and the Sierra Club, he supported the humane treatment of animals and the protection of our environment.

He is survived by his loving wife of 29 years, Barbara; sons, Phillip Jr. (Nancy), David, Jeffrey (Karen), Gregory (Nana); and daughters, Christine Fulton (Bert), Margaret Selzer (Phillip), Nancy Mugrage, Leslie Leidig (Robert), Barbara Stetler (Brett) and Susan Sugden; 15 grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Madge Barnes Baird and Dow Allan Baird; brothers, Jack and Richard Baird; first wife, Claire; and daughter, Ellie.

Visting hours will be at Waite Funeral Home Medina Chapel, Thursday, September 20, 2007, from 4 to 8 p.m. and Friday, September 21, 2007, from noon to 2:30 p.m. and 4 to 8 p.m.

Requiem Mass will be at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 317 E. Liberty St., Medina, Saturday, September 22, 2007 at 12:30 p.m.

Interment is at Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery, Rittman. Memorial contributions may be made to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 317 E. Liberty St., Medina, OH 44256

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