For years, 83-year-old Rabbi Joel Baron has served as interfaith chaplain at Orchard Cove in Canton, offering spiritual guidance, pastoral care, and comfort to residents and their families. Now he is retiring – and preparing for a new role at Orchard Cove: resident.

“I guess I won’t be missing you for long, since my wonderful wife, Phyllis, and I will be moving to OC as very challenging and difficult residents (!) as soon as the right apartment becomes available,” Baron wrote in an email to residents, capturing the humor and warmth that have defined his tenure.

Baron’s rabbinical career may have begun later in life, but it has been deeply meaningful. Ordained in 2014 at age 71 by Hebrew College in Newton, he became, according to an informal survey by the college, the oldest newly ordained rabbi in North America at the time.

Before answering the call to the rabbinate, Baron had a distinguished career in medical publishing. He served as publisher of leading journals, including the North American edition of The Lancet and the New England Journal of Medicine.

Though he is stepping down from his formal role, Baron’s presence at Orchard Cove will remain. “Though I’ll be a resident here, I will not be Rabbi Joel – just Joel will be quite enough, thank you,” he said.