George Fisher Baker

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George Fisher Baker (March 27, 1840–May 2, 1931) was a U.S. financier and philanthropist. He provided much of the initial funding for Harvard Business School. Beside that, he made several large donations to charitable causes throughout New York City and funded the construction of Baker Field, Columbia University's primary athletic facility. He also provided $2 million for Baker Library at Dartmouth College, which has since become one of the school's symbols. A co-founder of the First National Bank of New York in 1863, he became the Bank's President in 1877 and Chairman of the Board in 1909. Mr. Baker's 20,000 shares in the First National Bank were worth twenty million dollars. He was also the largest stockholder in the Central Railroad of New Jersey. He was a director in 22 corporations, which, together with their subsidiaries, had aggregate resources of $7,272,000,000 and he presumably had stock in at least as many corporations.

Baker, born in Troy, New York, was the son of George Ellis Baker and Eveline Stevens. He married Florence Tucker Baker (daughter of Benjamin Franklin Baker and Sophronia J. Whitney) in 1869, and was the father of:

• Evelyn Baker (1870-1936) m. 1891 Howard Bligh St. George
• Florence Bellows Baker (1876-1936) m. William Goadby Loew
• George Fisher Baker, Jr. (1878-1937) m. Edith Brevoort Kane