Mike J. Baron Jr

On Saturday, July, 8 2023, Mike J. Baron, 75, left earth to spend all of eternity with his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. After fighting multiple myeloma, an incurable bone marrow cancer for 19 long years, Mike finally made the decision to stop chemotherapy and enter Hospice. Mike is a member of Grace Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, NC.
Mike is an only child and was preceded in death by his parents Kim and Mickey Baron of Middletown, Connecticut. Because the Barons were childless during WWII, Micky Baron was drafted at age 37 and deployed to Okinawa. The Baron's had been unsuccessful at getting pregnant for 18 years! As the war raged on, the Army began drafting older men who did not have any children. WWII ended and Micky Baron returned to his wife Kim finally in Middletown, and Kim became pregnant! Everybody said, "It's a miracle!" Mike's mom was 42-years-old when she gave birth to "Little Mike" in 1948.
After graduating from college, Mike became an Industrial Arts at Ellington High School in Ellington, Connecticut. Mike was quickly recognized as an outstanding teacher and thus promoted to Department Chairman despite being the youngest member of his department's faculty.
After a decade of teaching Mike resigned and became a Product Development Manger for Gerber Scientific. Within three years he was awarded his first US Patent for his solution to a problem that the company's engineers were unable to solve.
In 1984 Mike recorded an album of 10 Christian songs he wrote called LIFE'S A BOUT. He says he had no idea just how appropriate his album's title would become. Jesus promised His disciples that ministry would be very hard, and it sure was. Mike suffered for decades over the loss of his two children who abandoned him and became prodigals. Andrew is now 38, and Stacey is 37. Their whereabouts are unknown. Mike has never received even one Father's Day card from them in 20 years. Jesus said that following Him would even break up families, and it did. Add to that 19 years of bone marrow cancer as proof that LIFE'S A BOUT. But Jesus led Mike and blessed Mike through all of these hardships!
After the birth of his 2nd child Mike left full-time ministry to earn enough income to support his family. The Lord proved to Mike that he is a much more effective preacher than a music minister. So Mike removed "music" from his ministry resume and he began promoting himself as a preacher.
in 1992 Connecticut was in a recession. Mike was having a hard time finding a decent job, and discovered the economy in the southeast corridor was booming! So Mike convinced his wife that they should sell their Connecticut home and move south. The City of Greensboro, NC was experiencing a critical water shortage, so it hired Mike to develop and manage a water conservation program. Mike's job description actually stated that public water use must decline by 1% during he 2nd year of employment- which sounded impossible. However, Mike really loved this kind of challenge so he accepted the position. The truth was that nobody in Greensboro's government expected water usage to do anything other than skyrocket. So Mike's success stunned everyone. A year later public water declined! And by year 4, his programs had saved four billion gallons which caused a problem. It meant the Greensboro water department did not "sell" four millions gallons! The revenue was loss was serious.
Mike completed a Water Efficiency Demonstration Project at three huge apartment complexes, and water use declined 33 percent at those apartments! The owner saved $45,000 because his tenants cut their water use by one-third! Again, that's money the water department never received!
In 1996 Mike received the United States Environmental Protection Agency's 1st place Municipal Water Efficiency Award. And the following year, 1997, Mike received the same US EPA 1st place award again! The TV News Media was interviewing Mike twice a week on camera and citizens would ask him, "Don't I know you?" In 1997 Mike received the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce Environment Stewardship Annual Award for reducing public water use during a water crisis.
Mike became the most successful water conservation manager (WCM) in the United States. No other WCMs have ever caused a measurable reduction in water use.
After his cancer was diagnosed Mike was declared 100% disabled. But this never stopped him from doing ministry. Mike launched a 12-Noon Wednesday Public Bible Study at the Kernersville YMCA. The attendance grow to 27 people and the weekly class ran for six years until COVID and more chemotherapy finally forced its end. Amazing things happened in Mike's Bible study. Several people accepted Jesus as their Lord and Mike baptized two converts in the study.
Mike had declined ordination for many decades feeling it was unnecessary, but now that he was old and ministering in the south, Mike knew it would benefit him as a preacher. About five years ago a committee of pastors and leaders at Lewisville Baptist Church (SBC) ordained Mike as a preacher and evangelist. Below is a link that contains the comments made by church leaders and pastors who used Mike in their pulpits:
https://app.box.com/s/te2vna4nb2tmeg55ub5c7nvqba8jm6hm
For most of his life Mike has been annoyed about his harmonicas that always seem to fail prematurely. They die young because saliva and crud build-up inside them, and it's virtually impossible to remove. All players bang their harps on their knee to jettison the saliva, and yet this practice is only marginally effective. Mike was convinced for many years that centrifuge force (CF) would be a vastly superior method for ejecting contaminants quickly and without causing any shocks to the reeds.
He proved his theory in his basement shop after building testing several prototypes. He concluded that the cradle that held the harmonica would have to be made of injection molded ABS plastic. However, Mike knew that unless he could receive a patent for his his invention, it would be unwise to spend lots of money on the manufacturing of it without the protection of a patent.
So Mike applied for a US Patent on his SLINGBARON ORBITAL HARMONICA DRYER, and one was granted. It is US Patent and it protects his rights to his invention for 20 years!
Unfortunately Mike's cancer returned just after he manufactured 2,000 SlingBarons, and he did not have the energy to create the marketing materials SlingBaron needed to increase sales. Eighty-six SlingBarons have been sold on eBay, but 200 to 300 sales are needed before the rest of the harmonica community starts purchasing them. Mike's friend Jim now owns the SlingBaron Business, and perhaps he can find a buyer for it someday. If you Google just one word -SlingBaron, you may be surprised when you see just how far the SlingBaron has come.