Norman Baugher

Norman Baugher was born on July 28th, 1965, in Pasadena, California, soon thereafter held by the people who loved him most - a mother and father who had been waiting to see his scrunched up, little red face. For his parents there would now forever be in their lives a point in time to which they could reference any other, a "before Norm" and an "after Norm".

Soon he came to know his siblings, his childhood home, and his childhood friends. For the small price of dirt in every wrinkle of their skin, sweat soaked shirts, and sun-burnt necks, a lucky selection came to befriend Norm when he was first bringing his wonder and curiosity to the world. They got to know whispers in class, shouts into the wind, footsteps heavy and soft, and of course Norm's smile. Careless, wholehearted, mischievous, his smile was a joy that he brandished to anyone who came across his easy manner.

Norm was always a precocious child, and when he wasn't getting into trouble, he was reading the Dialogues of Socrates, Dante's Divine Comedy, the works of John Steinbeck, and anything else that could speak to the history of man, or the reason he was here. It was around this time that he made a promise to himself, in the back of a history class in Texas, reading his textbook under his desk; with his eyes fixed on a picture of the Fontana di Trevi in Rome, he decided that he was going to see this fountain, this emblem of ages passed, of people, culture, and life never encountered. It was not soon after that Norm began his odyssey, his urgency to live emblazoned on his heart.

And on his walk through life, Norm lived more than anyone could ever hope to write down. There is nowhere he didn't go - all of Western Europe, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Nicaragua during the revolution, East Germany immediately after the wall, and still more. And everywhere he went, friends were sure to follow. Friendship with Norm was always as simple as those early days of his childhood. He had an absolute willingness to do anything and everything, and no idea was too strange to be discussed, and no adventure too wild to be pursued. Norm carried himself with a levity that was infectious, but there was one thing that he always took seriously - his relationship with his friends and family. His unceasing love and loyalty to those he called his friends was unparalleled, and though one could go many years without speaking with him, one day there would be a phone call, a familiar voice, and before you knew it, Norm had made the passage of time inconsequential. Once you were a friend of Norm, you were always a friend of Norm, and even now, you will always be a friend of Norm.

Norm too, was an intense, intellectual man, a man who was passionate in all his pursuits. He traveled the world over on business, and founded his own genetic testing company in Brazil. But nowhere is it more evident that Norm was a man possessed with a desire to add something to the world, than in his photography. His artistry of painting in black & white, and somehow adding more color to the world- not in spite of, but because of the binary color on his gel prints - is a glimpse into the reverence with which at times he held the world around him. The art of his life can be found on baugherphotography.com.

And when it came time for Norman to be a father, he poured everything, his joy, his devotion, his intensity, but most importantly his love, into raising his twin children - Isabella and Lukas. If you ever spoke to Norm you knew how much his kids meant to him. Every accomplishment, life update, travel photo, his kids sent him, he would then mass send to everyone he knew. There's no one he loved more than his twins. Every year, remembering his own childhood curiosity that he worked so hard to grow, he would take the two of them to an educational summit. For Isabella, he would take her to the "Women in the World" summit each year, so that she could hear stories from women like Malala Yousafzai who against all odds were changing the world for the better. And at every chance he got, he reminded his daughter that while being a woman in this world is difficult, there is nothing that could stop her from achieving her goals. And for Lukas, it was astrophysics conferences and trips to the Hayden Planetarium, one time surprising him with a seat at a live recording of StarTalk with Neil Degrasse Tyson. He would adamantly refuse any credit for these pivotal moments, for introducing his daughter to all that she could be, and his son to his career as a physicist, "The work was all your own" he would say. But there he was anyhow, at the root of the lives of the two people he loved with all his might. When Isabella and Lukas graduated college, he told everyone, "my job is done." The teary calls during finals week, the elated smiles after job offers, and all the gossip and advice in between had come to an end, but he would always be their loving father, and they knew that they would always be his loving children.

In life every beginning is born with an end. Norm's heart of a child, the very same that he carried through every leaned in chuckle, every smile from afar, every first hello, and every unknowing goodbye, came to rest in Blumenau, Brazil. On February 1st, 2025, at 1:30am in the morning, Norm passed, held by the two people he loved most in this world, and who loved him most in the world, his daughter Isabella and his son Lukas. For everyone who knew him, there would now forever be a "before Norm" and "after Norm." But it was Norm's hope that those very same people would remember, that when he was with them, there was only ever "Norm." That they would carry their love of him with them, for the moments when they wanted to pick back up, right where they left off. And so that even in his absence, for his friends and family, there would always be, "Norm."

We love you Norm.