George F. Baker (1840-1931) was a founder of the First National Bank in New York City in 1863. Although he was averse to personal publicity, the bank, which is today Citibank, became known as "his" bank, which he ran from an old rolltop desk and without any fripperies.

When he was 23 years old, he had invested his $3,000 savings to help get the bank started. He became president of the bank in 1877, and chairman of the board in 1909. He served as a director of the bank for 68 years, somewhat longer than the 50 years he served on the Board of Trustees at All Souls.

A 1934 article in Newsweek describes him as one of the most imposing figures in banking history. In the November, 1994 issue of Worth magazine, in an interview with James Grant, editor of a financial newsletter, Baker is described as the hidebound turn-of-the-century banker who always got his loans repaid and was one of Grant's heroes.

When he died, Baker's son, George F. Baker, grave and bespectacled, who could never quite get over being referred to as young Mr. George, succeeded his father as chairman of the bank. It is Young Mr. George who freed the congregation of its obligations on the former church, thus enabling our current building to be completed in 1932.