LARGE FORTUNE

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20763, 25 June 1937, Page 9

LARGE FORTUNE

AMERICAN BANKER’S ESTATE United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph Copyright NEW YORK, June 23. Mr George F. Baker’s will has been filed. He bequeathed 15,000,000 dollars for humanitarian purposes. The estate, estimated at between 50,000,000 and 100,000,000 dollars, is left to the widow.

Mr Baker, who was chairman of the board of the First National Bank and a director of the General Electric Company, the General Motors Corporation, the United States Steel Corporation, and many other large concerns, was 59 years of age. He was cruising in the Pacific in his steam yacht Viking when, towards the end of May, he became ill with acute appendicitis. The Niagara, bound from Auckland to Vancouver. met the Viking in response to a radio message, and transferred a doctor and a nurse. An operation for peritonitis was performed upon Mr Baker, and the Niagara resumed her voyage. The following day a message from the yacht stated that Mr Baker’s condition was serious, and a coastguard cutter was despatched from Honolulu to carry medical supplies to the Viking, while a serum was sent by a naval aeroplane. The yacht was expected to reach Honolulu on Saturday. Mr Baker died without recovering.