Late Dean Called Effective Leader

Those who knew and worked with former Dean of the Business School George P. Baker remember him as a quiet and effective leader.

"He will surely go down as one of the Business School's greatest deans," Walmsley University Professor C. Roland Christensen said yesterday afternoon.

Baker had a remarkable skill for "bringing things together and getting things done," Christensen said.

David Professor of Business Administration Kenneth R. Andrews, who worked for Baker at the Business School's Mobilization Analysis Center during the Korean War, said yesterday that Baker "showed a great capacity for dealing with public agencies, public issues, and public bodies, as well as business entities."

Baker's strong leadership, his colleagues say, was never autocratic or overbearing. Instead, he remained sensitive to others' concerns.

"He always started with the people first and not with the technical stuff...he really was an academic diplomat," Christensen said. "It takes incredible diplomatic skill to get people to see where they agree and to minimize disagreements."

"He was soft spoken, a very wise person, never trying to dominate, never officious in his various positions of leadership," Andrews said.

Baker took over as dean of the Business School in 1962, when the School was rethinking its objectives.

Under his direction the curriculum was revised, international and research activities were increased, and the MBA program was made accessible to women and more minorities.

"[Baker] had a unique role at that particular time," Christensen said. "There were a lot of arguments, a lot of differences. What he did was get people to work together, and that's hard to do with academics sometimes."

Baker also improved the relationship between the College and the professional schools, according to Christensen.

"I think he built strong bridges to help both sides of the river see the importance of the other," Christensen said.

Despite Baker's accomplishments, he was reluctant to put himself in the limelight, colleagues say.

"My first impression of him was of a very highly intelligent, sort of elegantly reserved, pleasant and good person," Andrews said. "He never was trying to call attention to himself or to dramatize his roles."

When the Harvard Business School Club of New York presented Baker with its Business Statesman Award in 1970, it praised him as "the quiet builder with the soft voice and iron resolve, the man who welded rather than hammered, the decision maker of the school of decision making."

This combination of quiet consideration and "iron resolve" earned Baker the respect and affection of his colleagues, Christensen said.

"He never shirked from calling the shots, but he always did it with courtesy and a sense of the impact of what he was doing," Christensen added.

Business School faculty describe Baker as caring and considerate, inside and outside the business world.