BAER, ALICE DOROTHY (March 2, 1911-February 24, 1993) was a publishing company executive and the founder of MODERN CURRICULUM PRESS, INC. Born in Coloma, Michigan, to George and Elizabeth Breidinger Lorenz, Baer graduated from Coloma High School in 1929. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Western Michigan University in 1933, where she graduated with honors and was a member of Kappa Rho Sigma. She earned her Master of Arts degree in mathematics from Loyola University in 1939. Baer taught high school in Chicago at Convent Sacred Heart (1934-1938) and Loretto High School (1938-1942). From 1942 to 1944 Baer worked as a civilian inspector in the U.S. Army Ordnance Department and from 1944 to 1949 was a production planner for the Chicago-based Container Corporation of America.
After marrying Frederick William Baer on May 14, 1949, Baer moved to North Ridgeville, Ohio, before eventually settling in Elyria. She began working as a part-time editor at Reardon Baer & Company, her husband's Cleveland publishing firm, which published a wide range of phonics educational materials used in U.S. Catholic schools during the 1950s. Baer worked as a secretary for the company from 1962-1971.
In 1961, Baer founded Modern Curriculum Press, Inc. (MCP), then located at 13900 Prospect Road, Berea, to publish elementary school books and phonics materials for public schools. She sold MCP to Esquire, Inc. in 1972, but remained as company president until her retirement in 1975.
Baer, a Roman Catholic, died in 1993 and is buried in St. Mary's Cemetery in Elyria, Ohio. She was survived by two children: Mary Alice and William Gerard.