After a long and productive life, Don died peacefully at OTMH on Sunday July 1 ^st , 2018, surrounded by his family. Beloved husband of Violet for 57 years, dear father of Peter, Alison, and John. He is also mourned by his sister Audrey Manzer and family of Dartmouth NS, and sister-in-law 'Joey' Baird and family in New Brunswick, and by two surviving brothers, Dr. David Baird (Vancouver) and Dr. K. 'Mac' Baird (Ottawa), as well as many nieces and nephews.

Don was born in Wei Wei, Honan, China, on January 3 ^rd , 1925 to Dr. Kenneth A. Baird, Attending Physician at the Presbyterian Mission, and Isobel McCurdy Baird, a gifted concert pianist. They spent seven years in China, raising four sons, three of them born in Honan. Two daughters were later born in Canada.

On return to Canada, Don grew up in Saint John NB. His childhood home was built for a prominent shipbuilder in the golden age of sail, and located three blocks from the harbourfront in Saint John, which gave him a lifelong interest in ships and the sea. He graduated with a Science degree from the University of New Brunswick. After university he followed his avocation of fire fighting to fire protection engineering, working at Insurers Advisory Organization head office in Montreal and Toronto. He was President of the World Ship Society, Montreal Branch. A noted authority on public fire protection, he was a member of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers and the British Institution of Fire Engineers. Don travelled globally for business and pleasure (he twice crossed the Atlantic in a square-rigged sailing ship), and during his working years was seconded to the National Research Council in Ottawa and participated in a trade mission to China. His career as a professional analyst of fire departments, spanning over thirty years, took him to cities and towns across Canada, the USA, and China. Following early retirement he became an independent consulting professional in his field. He is the author of numerous books on fire service topics, Canadian history and biographic subjects such as 'A Canadian History of Fire Engines', 'The Fireman Who Burned Parliament', 'Under Tow', and 'Women at Sea in the Age of Sail'.

Friends and neighbours will miss him walking to the lake from his Old Oakville home, a quiet thoughtful man, whose twin passions were firefighting and ships. In accordance with Don's expressed wishes, cremation will be followed by burial at sea in Nova Scotia. There will be no visitation in Oakville, and in lieu of flowers donations may be made to Don's favourite charity, The Salvation Army.

Crossing the Bar

Sunset and evening star,

And one clear call for me!

And may there be no moaning of the bar,

When I put out to sea,

But such a tide as moving seems asleep

Too full for sound and foam,

When that which drew from out the boundless deep

Turns again home.

Twilight and evening bell,

And after that the dark!

And may there be no sadness of farewell,

When I embark;

For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place

The flood may bear me far,

I hope to see my Pilot face to face

When I have crost the bar.

Alfred Lord Tennyson