Kerry Baker Remembered as Loving Man with Ready Laugh

Kerry Steven Baker is being mourned by family and friends as a generous man with a "good heart," always ready with a smile and a laugh.

on Jan. 1 at about 7 a.m. while bicycling in the 4700 block of East River Road in Fridley. A private snowplow truck hit his bike in an apparent head-on crash, according to the Anoka County Sheriff's Office.

Baker's funeral is set for Saturday at 2 p.m. in Ham Lake.

Brittany Cernohlavek, 19, said she knew Kerry as "uncle" for as long as she can remember—even though he was really her father's best friend. She said Baker had at times lived with her and her parents, Dale Cernohlavek and Shannon Bacon, at their house in northeast Minneapolis. 

"He was a nice guy," Bridget Cernohlavek said. "He didn't have a lot but if you needed something he would give you the last of what he had."

Like others who left messages at Baker's online obituary listing, Bridget Cernohlavek remembered Baker for his sunny personality and the way he let others in on a joke.

"He will always crack a smile," she said. "He would bump your arm."

Those close to Baker knew all about his , she said, but "he always had a smile ... through the hard times."

Baker's bike had a child carrier on the back. Bridget Cernohlavek said he liked to be with his children, who range in age from very young to grown.

"Even going to get a pack of cigarettes, he would always bring a kid with him," she said.

She said she last saw Baker at her parents' house about five hours before he died. She said he had just left the house when he was killed but it's unclear where he was headed.

"We don't know," she said. "Nobody knows."

It will be a while before more is known about the crash that took Baker's life, according to Cmdr. Paul Sommer of the Anoka County Sheriff's Office. He said in an email Friday that his his agency's investigation is waiting on "toxicology and accident reconstruction reports. Both of which can take months to receive."