Maplewood, New Jersey - Annalee Morgan Baker, age 44, of Maplewood, New Jersey, passed away on March 17, 2026.

Raised in Roseville, Minnesota, Annalee carried throughout her life a passion for education, science, art, and music, as well as a deep love for her family and friends, an endless capacity for fun and adventure, and a fierce commitment to social justice.

Following high school, Annalee attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she was a member of the UW women's crew team, and studied Italian for a semester in Italy. After receiving her BS in Biochemistry, she worked in a cancer research lab at Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York City, while also embracing her creative side, singing in a band that performed at iconic rock venues like CBGB.

She left New York and Memorial Sloan Kettering to attend medical school at Penn State. Since the day of her White Coat Ceremony, Annalee's passion for medicine never waned—through training, clinical research, teaching and mentoring, and above all caring for patients. Upon graduation, she returned to New York to do her residency in emergency medicine at NYU/Bellevue, a place that shaped her commitment to public health and to serving vulnerable communities with dignity and compassion.

She later practiced and taught emergency medicine at Aventura and Jackson Memorial hospitals in Miami, before returning once again to New York, to serve as director of the emergency medicine residency program at NYU/Bellevue. Most recently she was an attending physician and faculty member in emergency medicine at Rutgers University Hospital. Annalee was a tireless advocate for her patients and their families, and was beloved as a physician, educator, mentor, and colleague.

The center of Annalee's world was her three children, Henry, Beatrix, and Winslow. Her deep love and devotion to them was evident in all aspects of her life. She delighted in their humor and intelligence, their curiosity and creativity, and their unique personalities and interests. She was dedicated to nurturing their bright futures, always sharing funny and sweet stories and photos of baseball games, art projects, slime disasters, and elaborately staged video productions. At all times she was making plans for the next special family event, which usually included their two mischievous corgis Knufflebunny and Roxie.

Annalee was a cherished mother, daughter, granddaughter, sister, niece, cousin, and friend, whose presence filled every space with light. Her vibrant personality, sharp wit, humor, beauty, energy, generosity, and determination to make the world better will live on in everyone who knew and loved her, most of all through Henry, Bea, and Winnie.

She is survived by her children, their father Jason Scher, parents John and Kay Baker, sister Carrie Anderson (Christopher), brother Andrew Baker (Yazmin), grandmother Gloria Moore, beloved friend and companion Joseph Larson, and a large extended family of aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends across the country and around the world. She is deeply loved and will be profoundly missed.

There will be two memorials in celebration of Annalee's life: April 24 at The Woodland in Maplewood, New Jersey (1pm), and May 7 at the Minneapolis Institute of Art in Minneapolis, Minnesota (1pm).