Bakers Heating and Air celebrates 40 years
According to Michael Gardner, his grandfather, Gene Baker, started Bakers Heating and Air in 1982 in his Bokeelia house. His father, a firefighter, moved down from Kentucky in 1983 to help with the family business, which will celebrate 40 years this spring.
Eugene (Tiger) Baker, Michael’s uncle, also joined the team. In the late 2000s Michael Gardner’s parents, Mike and Melanie, purchased Tiger’s portion.
Now, they service primarily north Lee County.
Gardner maintains, after all these years in business, the customer still comes first.
“We are still here to take care of everything,” Gardner said.
In addition to residential air conditioning, they also do some commercial work, he said, emphasizing they have not forgotten their island, although the business is currently located in Cape Coral.
To that end, this year, Bakers Heating and Air will donate to four charities, he said, explaining their plan is to make a donation per decade they’ve been in business. One will be Bobby Holloway, he said, and one to the treatment of cystic fibrosis. The other two have yet to be determined.
“We want to enable the money islanders entrust us with to help others. If it wasn’t for the island, for the first 25 years of business, we wouldn’t be here. We continue to support the island in everything we can, because we understand that’s our home and those are the people who have gotten us the Cape customers through friends or family,” Gardner said.
Gardner said they’d like to thank their loyal customers for supporting the local, family owned business, which enables them to sponsor different events and in turn, support the community.
Bakers Heating and Air is at 913 S.E. 13th Place in Cape Coral. Call 239-283-0238 or 239-574-4273, or visit bakersac.com for additional information about the company.
(Editor’s Note: This story has been corrected to reflect the following: The name of the person quoted is Michael Gardner, not Michael Baker.)
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