———

Elias Bloxom Baker

Elias Bloxom Baker

E. Bloxom (Bloxy) Baker IV, formerly of Princeton, NJ, passed away on November 12, 2023, in Salisbury, CT. Born in Philadelphia, PA, on February 18, 1945, he was the son of Elias Bloxom and Marjorie Credo Baker. He grew up in Princeton, NJ, attended Princeton Day School, and later graduated from the St. Georges School in Newport, RI, in 1963. He attended Princeton University, graduated in 1967, and was a member of the Cap and Gown eating club.

After graduation, he enlisted as an officer in the United States Army and later helicopter flight school. He served in the Army’s 3rd Calvary Infantry Division in Vietnam, stationed in Bien Hoa as a Bell Cobra helicopter pilot in the Blue Max Squadron. He was awarded a Bronze Star for his service and the Broken Wing Award for safely landing his helicopter when his tail rotor blade was shot off by enemy fire. After his tour of duty, he was stationed in Fort Hood Texas and trained in low level flying with night vision binoculars, followed by an assignment for several months to England in the Salisbury Plains teaching British pilots the same.

After his honorable discharge with the rank of Captain, he worked for Merrill Lynch in Manhattan as a commodities broker. Dissatisfied with corporate life he learned that Grover Lumber Company in Princeton was for sale, where he had worked for many years part time growing up. With the help of family and friends, he and his wife were able to buy the company. He was President of Grover Lumber Co for 20 years until the company was later sold to Princeton University.

A lifelong devotee to the sport of ice hockey, Bloxy was both a coach and the ultimate “hockey dad” to his three sons.

He is survived by his wife Nancy Luria of Salisbury and two step daughters, Cary Ullman of Lakeville, CT, and Samantha Harlow of Middlebury, VT; his three sons, with his former wife Nancy Howell Rogers, Charles of Sarasota, Fl, Henry (his wife Tiffany) of Wilton, CT, and Peter (his wife Wendy) of Montvale, NJ; three grandchildren (Henry, Lily, and Sophie); sisters Gertrude Millar (James) of Marshfield, MA, Leanne Baker of Nantucket, MA; and brother Warren Baker (wife Deborah) of Lakeside, MI.

A memorial service is planned for a later date in Princeton, NJ.