Edwin Baker (CNIB)
{{Short description|Canadian blindness activist}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Edwin Albert Baker
|image =
|caption =
|birth_date = {{Birth date|1893|01|09}}
|birth_place = Collins Bay, Ontario
|death_date = {{Death date and age|1968|04|07|1893|01|09}}
|death_place =
|other_names =
|known_for = Co-founder of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind
|occupation =
|nationality =
|awards = {{Plainlist|
}}
Edwin Albert Baker, {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|CC|OBE|MC}} (January 9, 1893 – April 7, 1968) was a Canadian co-founder of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB).
Born in Collins Bay, Ontario, he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from Queen's University in 1914 and later that year enlisted with the Sixth Field Company, Canadian Engineers. In 1915, he was wounded in France, losing his sight in both eyes.
In 1918, he and six others founded the CNIB. He served as first Vice-President from 1918 to 1920 and Managing Director & General Secretary from 1920 until his retirement in 1962.
He married Jessie Robinson. They had three sons and a daughter. Robert Baker, guitarist in Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip, is his grandson.
Honours
- In 1935, he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.
- In 1938, he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws from Queen's University; in 1945, the same was from the University of Toronto.
- Croix de Guerre
- In 1967, he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada.
- Baker was portrayed by legally blind actor Bruce Horak in a Historica Canada Heritage Minute released in December 2024.{{cite web |last1=W Group |first1=CN |title=New Heritage Minute Celebrates Edwin Baker |url=https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/heritage-minute-celebrates-edwin-baker-143300585.html |publisher=Yahoo |access-date=6 December 2024}}
Related book
- {{cite book|title=No compromise: the story of Colonel Baker and the CNIB|author=Marjorie Wilkins Campbell|year=1965}}
References
{{Reflist}}
- {{cite web|title=Lieutenant-Colonel Edwin A. Baker CC, OBE, MC, Croix de Guerre, BSc, LLD |work=Canadian National Institute for the Blind |url=http://www.cnib.ca/eng/about/organization/baker.htm |accessdate=February 1, 2005 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20041213085647/http://www.cnib.ca/eng/about/organization/baker.htm |archivedate=December 13, 2004 |url-status=dead }}
- {{cite web|title=Lt Col. Edwin Albert Baker|work=American Printing House for the Blind, Inc|url=http://www.aph.org/hall_fame/bios/baker.html|accessdate=February 17, 2011}}
- {{cite web|title=Edwin Albert Baker fonds |url=http://mikan3.archives.ca/pam/public_mikan/index.php?fuseaction=genitem.displayItem&lang=eng&rec_nbr=101625&rec_nbr_list=101625,3676638,116094,100473,116087 |accessdate=2007-03-05 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930184910/http://mikan3.archives.ca/pam/public_mikan/index.php?fuseaction=genitem.displayItem&lang=eng&rec_nbr=101625&rec_nbr_list=101625,3676638,116094,100473,116087 |archivedate=2007-09-30 }}
- {{Canadian honour|Type=orc|ID=|accessdate=24 May 2010}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Edwin}}
Category:Canadian military personnel of World War I
Category:Companions of the Order of Canada
Category:Recipients of the Croix de Guerre (France)
Category:Canadian Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Category:People from Frontenac County
Category:Queen's University at Kingston alumni