Anita Baker

Dr. Anita Baker died peacefully on Nov. 18, 2022, at Danbury Senior Living in Tallmadge where she had lived for the past four years.

Born Lois Anita Brant on Nov. 7, 1937, in Akron, Ohio, she grew up the youngest of six children, the daughter of Mary and Ray Brant. From the beginning she blazed her own path – ditching her given first name out of dislike and refusing to wear skirts. In later life, she even learned to pilot an airplane.

Anita loved the outdoors and all creatures, including her childhood horse which she took with her when she went to the College of Veterinary Medicine at Ohio State University. She graduated with a doctorate of veterinary medicine in 1962 at a time when few women were in the profession.  

She often said she liked animals more than people and the animals liked her right back. As a veterinarian, Anita refused to give up on even the most injured dogs and cats and often nursed them back to health before placing them in new homes. She was best known to most as the “Brimfield Veterinarian.” She opened a practice in the Brimfield Plaza before moving several years later to the Tallmadge Road location.   

Anita and her husband, partner and friend, Robert Eugene “Gene” Baker, ran the practice until 2006. They had been married for 43 years when Gene passed away in August of that year.

Her family and friends will remember her boundless generosity and a laugh that turned heads.

The family is very appreciative and grateful for the compassionate care Anita received by the Danbury Memory Care Staff and Southern Care Hospice.

Anita is survived by her sister Glenda (Ed) Wilson and several nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents; husband Gene; brothers, Russell, Duane, and Jack Brant; and sister, Wanda Brant.

A celebration of life for Dr. Anita Baker, D.V.M., will be held Friday, May 26, 2023, at Wingfoot Lake State Park in Suffield, Ohio.
The celebration of life will be held from 4-7 p.m. at the Oak Tree Shelter, which is fittingly located near the dog park. Light refreshments will be provided. Family, friends and the four-legged are invited to the park to share stories about Anita, or Dr. Baker, as she was known to many for decades when she was the Brimfield Veterinarian. She will be interred at 10:30 a.m. Friday, May 26, 2023, alongside her husband of 43 years, Robert Eugene “Gene” Baker, at Greenwood Cemetery in Mogadore.