Thurbert Baker

Thurbert Earl Baker (born December 16, 1952) served as the first African American Attorney General of the U.S. state of Georgia. He was appointed to the position in 1997 by Governor Zell Miller and served until January 10, 2011.

Governor Zell Miller installed Thurbert Baker (at the time his chief lieutenant in the Georgia House of Representatives) as attorney general on June 1, 1997, making him the first African-American to hold that job in Georgia and the only black state attorney general in the country at the time. Baker was subsequently elected to the position three times as a Democrat. In response, Perdue appointed a "special" Attorney General for that purpose. Some Republican state lawmakers subsequently introduced legislation to impeach Baker for his refusal.

2010 gubernatorial campaign

In 2010, Baker ran for governor. He was defeated in the Democratic primary by former governor Roy Barnes. Barnes was defeated in the general election, later that year, in a Republican sweep of statewide offices.

Personal

Baker was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina in 1952. He grew up with Mike Easley, the former Governor of North Carolina and former Attorney General of North Carolina, Roy Cooper, another former Attorney General of North Carolina and former Governor of North Carolina, and Gregory O. Griffin, the current Chief Legal Counsel for the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles. While attending the University of North Carolina, Baker was on the fencing team, and won the 1975 Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) individual sabre championship. In 2002, the ACC recognized him as one of the best fencers in its history, naming him to its 50th anniversary fencing team. Baker moved to Georgia in the 1970s to practice law.

Baker and his wife, Catherine, an educator, reside in the Atlanta suburb of Stone Mountain. They have two daughters. He is a practicing Baptist and a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity.

Education J.D., Emory University School of Law, 1979 Bachelor of Arts, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1975