Baker, Frederick E., 1908-

Frederick E. Baker (1908-1989) was born on February 1, 1908 and grew up near Green Lake, in Seattle, Washington. He attended Ballard High School and graduated from Lincoln High School in 1925. Baker began working soon after high school as a truck loader for the Western Dairy Products Co. In 1929, he took a job as Seattle field scout executive for the Boy Scouts of America.

Baker became a successful business owner of several firms in Seattle including Frederick E. Baker and Associates, and Baker and Stimpson Advertising.

Frederick E. Baker and Associates was a public relations firm. The firm’s clients included Governor Arthur B. Langlie, Congressman Thomas M. Pelly, and Congressman Thor Tollefson. Baker was an early leader of the "New Order of Cincinnatus," the movement organized in 1933 to remedy "the sad state of local politics." His role in the 1936 elections of Arthur B. Langlie as mayor, and David Lockwood as councilman led to Baker's selection in 1940 to rescue the faltering gubernatorial campaign of Art Langlie.

Office holders who called on Baker to serve as either campaign chair, finance chair or strategist included Seattle mayors William Devin, Gordon Clinton and Dorm Braman; City Council members David Levine, Bobby Harlan, Mike Mitchell, Charlie "Streetcar" Carroll and Al Rochester; Congressmen Thomas Pelly, Jack Westland and Thor Tollefson, and Governors Dan Evans and Art Langlie.

Baker was also the chairman of W. Ayer/F. E. Baker Inc. He served as director of numerous organizations including Merry, Calvo, Lane & Baker Inc. (today known as Hill & Knowlton), Loomis Corporation, Sansome Investment Co., Canlis Broilers Inc., Loomis Armored Car Service Inc., Loomis Courier Service Inc., Lincoln Moving & Storage Co., and Alaska Orient Van Lines Inc. Baker died in 1989 at the age of 81.

Sources: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/news/local/seattle_history/nominees/ http://gmerritt783.blogspot.com/2011/03/frederick-e-baker-1927-troop-125-eagle.html (obituary)

From the guide to the Frederick E. Baker and Associates accounts records, 1946-1957, (Special Collections and University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries)