George Fisher Baker
| George Fisher Baker | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | March 27, 1840 |
| Died | May 2, 1931 (aged 91) |
| Citizenship | American |
| Net worth | USD $100 million at his death (about 1/758th of US GNP) |
| Spouse(s) | Florence Tucker Baker |
| Children | Evelyn, Florence Bellows, George Fisher, Jr. |
George Fisher Baker (March 27, 1840 – May 2, 1931) was a U.S. financier and philanthropist.
In 1863, Baker, along with his mentor, John Thompson, and Thompson's sons Frederick Ferris Thompson and Samuel C. Thompson, co-founded the First National Bank of the City of New York. The first national bank to be chartered in New York City under the National Currency Act of 1863, it became a forerunner of today's Citibank N.A.
At age 37, Baker became First National's President on September 1, 1877. His 20,000 shares were worth about $20 million ($449,812,500 today). He would become chairman of the board in 1909.
An avid investor, he held interests in many corporations and was the largest stockholder in the Central Railroad of New Jersey. In addition, he was a director in 22 corporations, which with their subsidiaries had aggregate resources of $7.27 billion.
The April 14, 1924, edition of Time said of Baker:
True, he is twice as rich as the original J. P. Morgan, having a fortune estimated at 200 millions. True, at the age of 84 when he has retired from many directorates, he dominates half a dozen railroads, several banks, scores of industrial concerns.
The March 26, 1934, Time magazine article called him
the richest, most powerful and most taciturn commercial banker in U. S. history
A 1934 article in Newsweek describes him as one of the most imposing figures in banking history. In the November 1994 issue of Worth magazine, James Grant, editor of a financial newsletter, calls Baker a hidebound turn-of-the-century banker who always got his loans repaid.
Baker provided much of the initial funding for Harvard Business School with a 1924 grant of $5 million, for which Harvard gave him an honorary doctorate and named the library after him. Baker also donated $2 million to Cornell for the construction of the Baker Laboratory of Chemistry, as well as Baker dormitories, and he endowed the Baker Lecture Series, the oldest continuous lectureship in chemistry in the United States. He made other large donations to charitable causes throughout New York City and funded the construction of Baker Field, Columbia University's primary athletic facility. He provided $2 million for Baker Memorial Library at Dartmouth College.
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