Charles P. Baker III, celebrated cofounder of Baker Industries for the ‘least employable,’ has died at 101

Charles P. Baker III, 101, formerly of Radnor, celebrated cofounder of Baker Industries, longtime workplace for the “least employable,” former owner of the C.P. Baker and Co. chemical firm, Army veteran, national squash champion, mentor, and volunteer, died Wednesday, Sept. 16, of congestive heart failure at HarborChase assisted living community in Wilmington, Del.

Born in Philadelphia, Mr. Baker grew up in the old Colonial Hotel at 11th and Spruce Streets in Washington Square West. He and his wife, Louise, founded Baker Industries in 1980, and the workforce development nonprofit has hired, trained, and mentored more than 12,500 workers with physical and intellectual disabilities, substance use disorders, recent periods of incarceration, and housing insecurity who could not find jobs elsewhere.

Their own son, Justin, lives with epilepsy and, when he couldn’t find suitable employment years ago, Mr. Baker and his wife started their own two-person mail order packaging firm in their Strafford garage. Their son was their first hire.

“We decided, if we’re going to start something like this, let’s go for the people who need it the most,” Mr. Baker told The Inquirer in 1998, “the ones who are least employable.”

For nearly five decades, Baker Industries has contracted light industrial and office work from hundreds of businesses, and operated facilities in Philadelphia, Malvern, and elsewhere. Employees are paid an hourly wage, offered additional training, and encouraged to attend workshops, social events, and support group meetings.

The company motto is “providing a steppingstone to regular employment,” and many workers have moved on to higher-paying jobs elsewhere. “We have a philosophy of work as rehabilitation,” Mr. Baker told the Daily News in 1988. “The goal is to show these people they can do a whale of a lot more than they think they can do.”

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Mr. Baker served as the unpaid president at Baker Industries until 2002 and then on the board of directors. In the 1950s, he assumed control of his family’s small chemical company, C.P. Baker and Co., expanded it, and sold it in 1980.

“Charlie and Weezie Baker believed there is healing in work,” colleagues at Baker Industries said in a Facebook tribute on his 101st birthday in June. “Not just jobs. Work. Showing up. Being part of something. Contributing alongside others.”

Turk Thacher, vice board chair at Baker Industries, said: “Charlie was beloved. He was kind to everybody.”

Mr. Baker, his wife, and their company were featured often on TV shows, and in The Inquirer, Daily News, and other publications. They won many awards for their community service and innovative business model.

“I was grateful to have their guidance,” Nic Watson, president at Baker Industries, said, “and we will follow their example for years to come.”

In 1991, the company was named an inspirational Point of Light by President George H.W. Bush. In 2004, Mr. Baker and his wife earned the legacy award for “community generosity” from the Chester County Community Foundation.

“They went above and beyond their own self-interest,” a foundation official told The Inquirer then.

Away from work, Mr. Baker was an avid squash player, skier, and sailor. He won the U.S. national hardball singles squash championship six times in the 80-and-older division from 2006 to 2016, skied into his 70s, sailed into his 80s, and played squash and tennis at the Merion Cricket Club until recently.

He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1946 and served more than seven years in the Army. He was stationed in Europe and rose to captain. His family called him a “relentlessly joyful spirit” in a tribute and said: “The world was a better place for his presence.”

Charles Pitman Baker III was born June 24, 1925, in Philadelphia. His father, Charles Jr., was manager at the old Colonial Hotel, and Mr. Baker told stories of dropping water balloons on passing pedestrians from windows when he was very young, hanging around later with Thomas Jefferson University medical students next door, and spending summers at the beach and on boats with the Ocean City Yacht Club.

He was a star squash player at the Haverford School and known by classmates as “the Arm,” his 1943 senior yearbook said, “because of the vicious way he wields a racket.” His mother died when he was 11.

He met Louise Wilhelm while water-skiing in Ocean City, and they married in 1955, and had sons Charles IV and Justin, and a daughter, Sandra. His wife died in 2025.

Mr. Baker and his wife attended Wayne Presbyterian Church, and he was known for his bow ties and wide smiles. He was funny, his daughter said, and liked to sing show tunes anytime anywhere, and write corny poems on birthday cards.

“He was a wonderful dad who loved his family,” his daughter said. His family said in a tribute: “His legacy of service, humor, and kindness will live on for many generations to come.”

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His wife told The Inquirer in 2004: “Charlie has a kind heart.”

In addition to his children, Mr. Baker is survived by four grandchildren, five great-grandchildren, and other relatives. Two sisters died earlier.

Visitation with the family is to be from 10 to 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 17, at Wayne Presbyterian Church, 125 E. Lancaster Ave., Wayne, Pa. 19087. A celebration of his life is to follow. Bow ties are optional but encouraged, the family said.

Donations in his name may be made to Baker Industries, 184 Pennsylvania Ave., Malvern, Pa. 19355.