Felled track inspector is buried

Outside, the sun was shining. Inside, a community was morning the loss of a husband, father and friend, who had gone too soon.
Scott Baur passed away on Tuesday, August 18 after, family and friends say, he suffered a heart attack. The 48-year-old track inspector from Howard Beach had been working on the Far Rockaway-bound side of the “A” line before he died.
“He was the most caring, thoughtful man I could ever meet,” said Lisa Sarter, long-time friend, at Baur’s funeral Mass on Saturday morning, August 22 at Our Lady of Grace Roman Catholic Church (OLG). “He had his morning coffee with my family at Howard Beach Dairy.”
Sarter, who was visibly upset, told The Courier that Baur had been anticipating the first birthday of his grandson next month, when he died.
“All he talked about was his family,” she recalled. “If you needed a shirt, he’d take it off his back and give it to you. We lost somebody very special.”
With The NYC Transit Pipes & Drums playing, Baur’s casket was taken from the Casey & Porrello Funeral Home as family, friends and coworkers filed into OLG.
“I’m here with you at a time when you may be asking ‘Why’,” said Pastor Reverend Anthony M. Rucando. “We define who we are by the presence of others. By your turnout, Scott meant something to you.”
Emphasizing hope in the face of death, Rucando said, “Life is a gift, [but] don’t see death as the end, it is the beginning of the immortal.”
“He was very well-liked and very well-respected,” said fellow track inspector Thomas Bodai, who had known Baur, a member of the Howard Beach Rod and Gun Club, for six years.
He said that when he heard about Baur’s death, he and the other workers “dropped what we were doing and went to the location.”
“Nobody would have expected this,” said Bodai. “He had no symptoms. It’s a tragedy.”
Sarter echoed the sad sentiment.
“It’s terrible. It’s a life gone too soon.”