His father worked as private money lender and merchant of animal skins, while his mother was a homemaker.

Baer was educated at the Jewish School of Heidelsheim and completed a banking apprenticeship at Bankhaus August Gerstle in Augsburg from 1883 to 1885.

He became a partner in Bank Hirschhorn, Uhl & Bär, which existed since 1890, and is the ultimate predecessor of today's Julius Baer Group.

[2][3] He was on several board of directors including Lake Thun railway line, Südostbahn and Oerlikon-Bührle (1908–1922).

In 1891, he married Marie Ulrich (1869–1917),[4][page needed] with whom he had three sons; His grandson, Hans J. Baer (1927–2011),[6][7] was a long-term executive director and president of Julius Baer, who became known through his involvement as a mediator in retrieving Jewish funds in the Volcker Commission in the 1990s.