WEALTHY BANKER DEAD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20863, 4 May 1931, Page 9

WEALTHY BANKER DEAD.

A MULTI-MILLIONAIRE.

ACTIVE AT AGE OF 91. AMERICA'S THIRD RICHEST MAN. By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright. (I'eccived May 3, 10.15 p.m.) NEW YORK, May 2. 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 Stales. Ho was one of the least known of the figures on Wall Street. Ilis fortune is estimated as high as £100,000.000. Mr. Baker had attended on Thursday a meeting of the directors 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 lie attended.

Mr. George Fisher Baker was born at Troy, New York Stale, in March, 1840. He went to one of the local primary schools, but his education was not extensive, for while still a lad lie had to leave to earn his living at a grocery store. There he quickly showed a gift for business and, progressing through various enterprises, he eventually found an opening in the banking world. By energy, courage and foresight he acquired a sound grasp of financial problems and gradually reached some of the highest positions in banks. By 1900 ho was chairman of tho board of the first National Bank and of the First Security Company. He also became president of the New York and Long Island Branch Railroad Company, vice-president of the Jersey City Water Supply Company, a director of a number of other important concerns, and a member of t lie executive of tho New York Chamber of Commerce. The period of American prosperity during and after the world war brought him enormous profits. In the summer of 1926 he presented to every employee of the First National Bank of New York with two years' service a cheque for a year's salary, amounting to £IOOO or so for junior officials an d £3OO or £4OO for clerks. Jn one day in July, 1929, an increase. in the selling price of the bank's shares brought hirn a profit of £2,000.000, and at that lime his fortune was estimated at between £100,000,000 and £200.000,000 —amounts believed to be exceeded only bv the possessions of Mr. Rockefeller and Mr. Henry Pord. Although always strict in his attention lo business, being at his office daily even after entering his 90lh year, Mr. Baker found time to cultivate an interest in art and was made a member of the controlling board of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the American Fine Arts Society and other similar institutions. In 1916 ho presented Regault's painting " Salome " to the Museum oi Art. His other gifts, public and private, ran to millions of dollars.