Macavan Baird

Macavan A. Baird

January 22, 1976 - December 10, 2018

Macavan Alexander Baird, 42, of Burlington, North Carolina passed away after a 17-month battle with lung cancer on Monday, December 10, 2018.

Macavan is survived by his loving wife Shannon Lundeen and their sons Paxton, Harlan, and Phoenix Baird-Lundeen, parents Macaran and Iris (Kris) Baird of Minnesota, sister Trina-Marie Baird and her husband Todd Gutmann of Oregon.

Macavan met Shannon at Colgate University, where they both studied philosophy. Their story is one of strength, growth, compassion and of course love. Macavan was an inspirational father whose natural instinct, thoughtfulness and intelligence brought wisdom, guidance and humor - and a deep love of all things superhero - to every facet of his boys’ lives. Macavan’s presence was understated, but was a source of strength to both his friends and family. Those around him felt safe. He was always willing to explore both the lighthearted side of life, as well as the deep feelings and emotions that we feel when contemplating our existence. He was a fierce friend, father, son, and husband.

Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, Macavan spent his early years in rural Wabasha, Minnesota and three years in Edmond, Oklahoma before enjoying his middle and high-school years in Syracuse, New York. He attended Colgate from 1994-1998, graduating with a B.A. in Philosophy. In 2000, Macavan pursued a dream of continuing his formal studies of Eastern philosophy and moved to Honolulu, Hawai’i where he earned his M.A. in Comparative Philosophy at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa in 2002. He then decided to pursue a career in law and moved to Philadelphia in 2003 to begin law school at Rutgers University, Camden. That same year while Shannon was pursuing her Ph.D. in Philosophy at Stony Brook University, Macavan and Shannon reunited and eventually married in 2006. After graduating from law school, Macavan served as a clerk for a magistrate judge and then worked in corporate litigation before joining the employment and labor law firm of Littler and Mendelson, P.C. where he worked as an attorney on the CaseSmart team until his passing. From the time they were married, Macavan and Shannon lived and worked in Philadelphia until 2013 when they moved to the Cleveland area for two years before settling in Burlington, North Carolina in 2015.  

To celebrate Macavan's life, there will be a Gathering of Friends on Elon's campus in the Sacred Space of the Numen Lumen Pavilion, at 2 pm EST on Saturday, December 15th. The Numen Lumen Pavilion is located at 301 E. Haggard Avenue in Elon, NC. A reception will be held at The Oak House following the gathering.

The Baird-Lundeen family would like to extend their sincere gratitude to the medical teams at the Duke Cancer Institute and the Hospice and Palliative Care Center of Alamance-Caswell.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to https://www.gofundme.com/helpmacavanbairdfightcancer to support Shannon and Macavan’s family or to a charity of your choice in honor of Macavan.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Macavan Baird, please visit our floral store.