FABULOUS WEALTH.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 103, 4 May 1931, Page 7

FABULOUS WEALTH.

American Multi-Millionaire's Estate. DEATH AT AGE OF 91. NEW YORK, May 3. The death has occurred of Mr. George F. Baker, aged 91. Deceased was the dean of American bankers, and the third richest man in the United States. He wae one of the least known of the figures on Wall Street. His fortune is estimated as high as £100,000,000. Mr. Baker had attended on Thursday a meeting of the directors of one of the 29 large corporations on the boards of which he served, when he became ill. One of the anecdotes told about him is that he- made his son a millionaire by giving him the 20 gold dollar pieces he received as fees at the directors' meetings he attended.

George F. Baker was born in New York State, and at an early age had to earn his living by working as a grocer's assistant. However, his ability for hard work and business enterprise soon put him on the road to success, and he eventually began his -long business career in the banking world. In 1900 he became chairman of one of New York's largest banking houses, the First National Bank, and of several railway and water supply concerns. The period of American prosperity during and after the war brought him immense profits. In the summer of 1926 he presented to every employee of the First National Bank with two years' service one year's salary. In July, 1929, an increase in the selling price of the bank's shares brought him a profit of £2,000,000, and at that time his fortune was estimated at between £100,000,000 and £200,000,000—an amount believed to be exceeded only by the fortunes of Henry Ford and J. D. Rockefeller.

Always strict in his attention to business, being at hie office daily, even after entering his ninetieth year, Mr. Baker found time to develop a taste for art, and was made.a member of the controlling board of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the American Fine Arts Society, etc. His gifts, public and private, ran into many millions of dollars.