Price Baum

Price Baum, nationally recognized disability advocate, expert sailor, and former director of Eastern Shore Center for Independent Living, died at his home in Oxford Oct. 27 after a brief illness. He was 48. Already hailed as an expert sailor at age 22, he was to fly to Bermuda to sail a friend’s boat back to Annapolis in July, 1980. On the eve of his departure, he broke his neck in a diving accident at Royal Oak, resulting in quadriplegia. After rehabilitation, he continued to teach sailing to young people throughout the Mid-Shore and became an expert on the Americans with Disabilities Act. He had worked ceaselessly to enact the legislation and spoke often to business groups about adapting ADA rules in their own interests and the interests of qualified disabled job candidates. Born March 31, 1958 in Wilmington, DE, Baum graduated from Blair Academy in Morristown, N.J. where he was a star lacrosse player. In 1979, he graduated from the Lundenberg School of Seamanship at Piney Point, Maryland and served two years with the Merchant Marine before his diving accident. After a long period of rehabilitation in Baltimore and the Howard Rusk Clinic in New York City, he entered Towson State University, graduating in 1984 with a degree in Mass Communications. He joined the Human Resources Department at the new National Rehabilitation Hospital in Washington, D.C. where he recruited staff and testified before Congress on disability related issues. A serious automobile accident in 1987 hospitalized him for many weeks and forced his retirement from the hospital. Undaunted, he continued to counsel business on the ADA and became director of the Eastern Shore Center for Independent Living in Cambridge. He spearheaded efforts to produce and distribute an accessibility guide to restaurants and hotels for disabled persons. President George H. W. Bush and his wife, Barbara, praised Baum’s efforts to enact the ADA in 1990, the world’s first comprehensive civil rights law for people with disabilities. Other tributes came from Rep. Major R. Owns, chairman of the U.S. House Subcommittee on Select Education, Rep. Wayne Gilchrest, Senator Barbara Mikulski and state officials. Baum was a staunch supporter of the Disability Coalition of Talbot County and spoke at its inaugural Hugh Gregory Gallagher Forum in 2004 at the Historical Society Auditorium in Easton. Baum worked unceasingly to open doors to employment for persons with disabilities, to build ramps for those who could not afford them, and raise funds for needed equipment. At his death, he was deeply involved in raising funds to purchase a wheelchair lift van for his friend and colleague, Christine Jones-Young, an employee of the Eastern Shore Center for Independent Living who assists other disabled persons in their homes. Baum leaves five brothers: Daniel Smith and William Smith of Oxford, Henry Smith and his wife Judiann of Paget, Bermuda, Charles Cann and his wife Sally of Marion, MA, Nick Baum and his wife Anne of Paris, France, and many nieces, nephews, and countless friends. A memorial service will be held at noon, Friday, Nov. 3 at The Church of The Holy Trinity, Oxford, MD. Arrangements are by Fellows, Helfenbein and Newnam Funeral Home, P.A., Easton.

Price Baum

October 26, 2006