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The Determined Type

Jeannine Spinella, a receptionist at Elders Futures, was shy. Evan Baron, a floor trader at the same company, was not. One Friday night 16 years ago, he asked if she wanted to go to a Mets game after work. She agreed.

Then she got cold feet. When it was time to leave, Mr. Baron found a temporary receptionist sitting at her desk. The young woman told him that Ms. Spinella had gone home sick. That should have been that. But he called her at home.

"He didn't believe me," she said. "So he said: 'I'm going to pick you up tomorrow, and we're going to Central Park. We'll throw a Frisbee and then have a barbecue on my friend's roof deck.' I said O.K. He was from New Jersey. I didn't think he would find my house in Midwood, Brooklyn. But he did, and we've been together ever since."

She became Mrs. Baron eight years ago. They had two children, Ethan, 6, and Julia, 2. Four years ago, Mr. Baron, 39, started working at Carr Futures, where he was a senior vice president and an energy specialist. He loved working as an oil trader, leaving college to take up the job full time.

"He was determined," Mrs. Baron said. "He worked his way up until he was in an office instead of the floor of the stock exchange."

Profile published in THE NEW YORK TIMES on November 24, 2001.

Evan J. Baron, 38, put family above all

Evan Jay Baron loved bringing members of his family together. Whether it was a two-week vacation with his wife, Jeannine, and their two children on Long Beach Island or a dinner party with his sister and her family at his Bridgewater home, Mr. Baron prided himself on keeping connected with his loved ones.

Even when his work as an energy futures specialist for Carr Futures took him around the country, the 38-year-old Mr. Baron would find time to meet with family.

"He would make attempts when he went on business trips to visit with cousins," said his father, Irwin Baron of Holmdel. "That was very important for him, to see family together."

While Mr. Baron enjoyed playing golf, his father said you would rarely find him spending weekend hours on the course when he could be with his children, Ethan, 6, and Julia, 2.

"He never lost sight of family as the most important thing," Irwin Baron said. "I was in awe of how he grew up -- a wonderful father and a wonderful husband."

Mr. Baron was working on the 92nd floor of World Trade Center's North Tower when a hijacked plane struck the building Sept. 11. His family last heard from him when he left for work that day.

Though Mr. Baron did not enjoy commuting from Bridgewater, where he moved nearly nine years ago, his father said he enjoyed the challenge and atmosphere that came with working in Manhattan.

"I think he had a genuine interest in the activities that took place down there," Irwin Baron said. "It had the excitement and the ambiance that went with the market."

At Holmdel High School, Mr. Baron played guitar and toyed with the idea of making it his career. He considered studying music when he attended Rutgers University in Newark.

"He was always interested in music," Irwin Baron said. "He was a pretty accomplished guitar player in high school."

But he soon turned his analytical mind to big business and went to work in the stock market.

"He was a quick thinker," Irwin Baron said. "He was able to assimilate numbers quickly."

His success allowed him to buy a big house in Bridgewater, just a few miles from his sister -- another example of Mr. Baron's attempt to keep family together.

"He wasn't just my brother; he was my best friend," Julia Driscoll said. "He was really a part of my soul."

Mr. Baron also is survived by his mother, Marcia Baron.

Profile by Matthew J. Dowling published in THE STAR-LEDGER.