Charles P. Baker III

Charles Pitman Baker, III entered eternal life on September 16, 2026, at the age of 101. He was a devoted husband and father, a dedicated sportsman, a pillar of the Philadelphia community, and a relentlessly joyful spirit beloved by all who knew him. The world was a better place for his presence, and his legacy of service, humor, and kindness will live on for many generations to come.

Charlie was born in Philadelphia on June 24, 1925, to Charles Pitman Baker, Jr. and Jane Florence Curran Baker. He grew up in the Colonial Hotel at 11th and Spruce in Philadelphia, where his father was the manager. One of Charlie’s fondest childhood memories with his mother and sisters was dropping water balloons on passing pedestrians from the hotel window, joining in an end-of-school tradition with the Jefferson medical students next door. He spent his summers in Ocean City, NJ, learning to skipper Comets, Lightnings, 110s, and GP-14s as a member of the Ocean City Yacht Club.

In high school at the Haverford School, he played every sport he could, a habit he kept up throughout his life. Charlie skied well into his 70s, sailed into his 80s, and continued playing squash and tennis at the Merion Cricket Club well past his 100th birthday. He won the U.S. National Hardball Singles Championships six times in the 80+ bracket and served as the tournament’s volunteer director. His sixth title came in 2016 at the age of 90, at the last hardball singles event ever contested as a national championship—a game whose survival US Squash credited in large part to him. When the rest of his cohort had long retired from the sport, Charlie continued to play (and often even win) against players twenty years his junior.

Charlie attended West Point as part of the class of 1946 and deployed to Europe shortly after the end of World War II. He served as an officer in the Berlin Airlift, was stationed at Nuremberg during the war crimes trials, and rose to the rank of captain. On his own telling, his proudest military legacy consisted mostly of practical jokes. After nearly eight years in the Army, he returned to Philadelphia to take over his father’s small chemical business, C.P. Baker & Co. That summer, he met Louise Wilhelm—her friends knew her as “Weezie”—on a friend’s boat in Ocean City, and four dates later they were engaged. They married in January of 1955 and were inseparable until Weezie’s death seventy years later.

Charlie and Weezie raised three children, the youngest of whom, Justin, was born with an intellectual disability and severe epilepsy that made conventional employment difficult to keep. In 1980, he sold C.P. Baker & Co., which had grown from a struggling company with three employees to a successful mid-sized business. He kept only the formula for Non equal Furniture Polish and founded Baker Industries, a two-person operation filling furniture polish bottles in their Strafford garage, with Justin as its first employee. Baker Industries, under Charlie and Weezie’s leadership, grew into a thriving nonprofit dedicated to providing employment and job training to more than 12,000 people facing barriers to employment related to disability, recent incarceration, and addiction recovery. Their work drew wide recognition, including a Point of Light Award presented by President George H. W. Bush in 1991. Charlie never took a salary but served as Baker Industries’ president until his children finally persuaded him to step back to part-time work at the age of 77. He remained an active member of the board of directors until his death.

Charlie was preceded in death by his beloved wife of seventy years, Louise, and his sisters Jane Baker Bothwell and Margaret (Peggy) Baker Thaw. He lives on in the grateful memory of his children: C. Pitman Baker, IV and his wife Marilyn; Sandra B. Ebbott and her husband William; and Justin W. Baker. He also leaves behind his cherished grandchildren: Richard Schaper and his wife Rebekah Starnes; Mitchell An-Ebbott and his wife Andi; Charles P. Baker, V; and Kaitlyn Ebbott Forster and her husband Andrew. Charlie will be greatly missed by his great-grandchildren: Max, Simon, Louisa, Anya, and Luke.

A celebration of life will be held at Wayne Presbyterian Church on Saturday, October 17. Visitation will begin at 10:00 a.m., with the service at 11:00 a.m. and a luncheon following. Bow ties are optional but encouraged.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to Baker Industries, 184 Pennsylvania Avenue, Malvern, PA 19355, or online at bakerindustries.org/donate.