Jeffrey D. Baker

Jeffrey D. Baker was the eighth President of Luther College in Decorah, Iowa.

Early life Baker was born on November 23, 1941, in Sacramento, California. In 1964, he received a degree in international affairs from the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and married Shirly Watson in Colorado Springs. He then served six years in the United States Air Force as a pilot and instructor pilot.

Baker later received a Master's of Business Administration in 1979 from Arizona State University Tempe campus, and a Doctorate in Economics in 1979 from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Baker was then a student at the Foreign Service Institute in Washington, D.C., from 1980 to 1981, and air attache at the American Embassy in Rangoon, Burma from 1981 to 1983. On June 12, 1998, Baker announced that he was diagnosed with lung cancer and a second cancer in his back. He resigned as president on March 19, 1999, at the very end of the decennial reaccreditation visit by the North Central Association.

He moved to Cambria, California, on March 20, 1999, and died two days later on March 22.

Legacy All of the building projects of which planning was underway during Baker's presidency were seen through by his successor. The townhome-style student housing project was named Baker Village in his honor, dedicated in 1999.