Honoring Family Ties To Journalism And Medicine

Pat Baker Jr. ’55 visits familiar territory: the SMU Journalism Division newsroom.

Horace Anson (Pat) Baker Sr. was a well-known family practitioner in Wills Point and Van Zandt County, Texas. His wife, Janet Lybrand Baker, majored in journalism at what is now Texas Woman’s University. The couple instilled a love of learning and a commitment to helping others in their two children, Horace Anson Baker Jr. ’55, known to everyone as Pat, and the late Shirley Ann (Shug) Baker ’58.

In honor of his parents and sister, Pat Baker Jr. has established the Baker Family Scholarship Fund to benefit eligible journalism majors in Meadows School of the Arts and students on the pre-med track in Dedman College. Funding is provided through
the combination of a bequest and a gift annuity.

“I’ve been impressed with the overall academic aspirations and goals of SMU,” Baker says, “and this is my way to help the University continue to make progress.”

Baker credits his mother with nurturing his love of writing, and he entered SMU as a journalism major.

As a senior he was editor of the student newspaper, then called the SMU Campus.

The wordsmith eventually found his niche in advertising and public relations. He retired in 2000 and has been traveling the world since.

“Traveling is always a learning experience, and learning is an endless process,” he says.

Baker believes his family would be pleased to know that the continuing quest for knowledge at SMU is supported by the Baker Family Scholarship Fund.

“On Father’s tombstone it says: ‘Every man should leave his mark,’” he says. “This is our way of leaving the Baker family mark on SMU.”