Celebrating Old Memories, Creating New Ones, and Guaranteeing the Same for Others

Dan Baker `76CC learned to be generous of self when he was an undergraduate at Columbia, a value he put into service after graduation in his successful career in non-profits and consulting, and which continues to flourish to this day in his roles as devoted father, grandfather, husband, and Columbian. Alongside his wife and life’s partner, Rebecca, he aims to perpetuate this value for the benefit of generations to come.

A warm welcome from the beginning

After learning of his acceptance to Columbia, Dan decided to take a trip to visit the campus. The warm welcome he and his friend Chris received from Columbia undergraduates on that cold, rainy evening on Morningside campus struck him immediately. Dan greeted the first student he met walking across campus, who unexpectedly invited Dan to his dorm and gathered many of his cohorts to meet the prospective student and share their Columbia experiences. The strong, fun-loving, intellectualism he encountered turned out to be one of the deciding factors for Dan to attend Columbia—along with the sterling reputation of the English department.

His strongest memories of his undergraduate years are of intense and wonderful conversations—personal, political, and scholarly—like those from his first night on campus, conversations that spilled out from the classrooms, onto the steps, and into the dorms, continuing late into the night.

“I studied a lot of Melville,” Dan recalls. “Memories of classroom discussion and the relationships that developed around discussing Moby Dick are pretty well seared into my mind.”

His time at Columbia was a period of growth—socially and intellectually—during which he learned the importance of critical thinking and camaraderie, both in the classroom and on the ice as the goalie for Columbia’s Club Hockey team, which he captained in his senior year.

For Dan, Columbia elicits a sense of both nostalgia and currency; it has been a home for multiple generations of the Baker family. His wife Rebecca attended Queens College, and during their courtship, they would enjoy lunch dates on the steps of Low Library together (usually with a sandwich from Mama Joy’s). Dan and Rebecca’s son Ben attended Columbia College and Columbia Business School and was married in St. Paul’s Chapel. Their daughter, Sarah, is also a College alumna and serves as a class agent. Dan is excited to have another generation, his grandnephew, start at Columbia next fall, “even though his father went to Yale,” Dan says wryly. 

“Throughout my life, wherever I was—in New York, living back in Boston where I grew up, raising our kids in Connecticut—Columbia was always an anchor. It was always a place that felt safe and comfortable—like home. It’s filled with good memories and remains a place where we continue to make new memories.”

From scholarship recipient to scholarship donor

Dan has enjoyed regular involvement with the College through both volunteer service and philanthropy. He is proud to be an annual donor almost since graduation, a way for him to celebrate his enormous affection for Columbia as the place he feels he spent some of his most formative years. Dan remains grateful for having received a scholarship to attend, and once they were able, Dan and Rebecca endowed in 2004 the Baker Family Scholarship Fund which provides financial aid to students at Columbia College, with a preference for students from the greater Boston area or Brooklyn and Queens (a nod to where each grew up).

“I feel like going to Columbia was a gift I benefited greatly from. It helped make me who I am today and get me to the place I am in my life so I want to help provide the same experience for future students,” Dan says.

Dan and Rebecca enjoy seeing their scholarship fund grow through the University’s endowment. Pleased to have found this as the focus of their support, the Bakers make annual additions to their scholarship fund and in 2005 they included a gift in their estate plans to augment it. Dan and Rebecca also are loyal supporters of the Columbia College Annual Fund. As a result, they are members of both the 1754 Society and the John Jay Associates.

Volunteering with his classmates is another way Dan feels he can supplement his personal gift to the school. Dan currently serves as a 1754 Society Ambassador for Columbia College. Inviting classmates and others to join the 1754 Society—a legacy society that recognizes individuals who have included Columbia in their will, trust, or other estate plans. It is his way of helping Columbia remain strong long into the future.

“Rebecca and I get enormous pleasure from having made this future commitment and the relationships that are generated from it. Because of this and the wonderful opportunities we experience as part of the 1754 Society, it feels like I’m doing others a favor by introducing them to and welcoming them into the Society.”

Columbia was a place that helped Dan grow up, and now through his children’s involvement, he’s seen the University grow up too. Dan is proud of “doing his bit” to help Columbia experience that growth. For Dan, it is a logical progression from annual giving, to establishing a family scholarship, to making a planned gift—a progression which he and Rebecca hope will ensure that the impact of their support multiplies after their lifetimes. He describes it as a, “straight line in my mind and in my heart from my first $100 gift to the annual fund to becoming a member of the 1754 Society. It’s a logical expression of my family’s commitment, affection, and gratitude to Columbia for all the gifts it has given us.”