Douglas Baker

1944 - 2024

Douglas Baker
09/29/1944 - 10/09/2024
Son of Douglas Baker Sr. and Gladys "Penny" Irene Baker, he was born on September 29, 1944. Doug was an entrepreneur, an intellectual, a storyteller, and had a talent for making friends with anyone. After graduating from Southern Methodist University, he started multiple businesses, including several Dallas newspapers, oil drilling ventures, and a Radio Shack franchise. After moving to the Bay Area with his family, Doug drove cabs in Oakland and ran Paul's newsstand in Alameda, where he became a familiar face to many.
In his later years, Doug found great joy in being a substitute teacher. He loved connecting with his students and sharing his knowledge and wisdom. His students knew him for his unfailingly generous and uplifting spirit. Whether by wearing one of his many whimsical, patterned ties to school or handing out Valentine's Day cards to kids that had never received one before, Doug enjoyed making students' lives a little brighter, everyday.
Doug had a voracious appetite for books, and dreamed of writing a book of his own life's adventures, Dam Boy. It would've included astonishing tales like funding his trip to Europe as a young man by selling moonshine in a dry county, and the time he came home after an exhausting 18-hour shift in the California mines to find his apartment ransacked by Charlie Manson's crew. It would've included stories of his connections to notable people, like former Governor Jerry Brown, Boz Scaggs, and Willie Nelson.
Most importantly, Doug loved people and cherished his family and friendships. He was a member of the Odd Fellows fraternity for 30 years, and new friendships in Vallejo enriched his later years. He was a devoted husband and father, and one of the kindest people you could ever meet.
Doug is survived by his sons, Patrick (Chelsea) and Corbett; and his brothers, James (Kimel), David (Karen), and Michael (LeeAnne); and his first wife, Nancy. He was preceded in death by his second wife and the mother of his children, Patricia Lane; his third wife, Helen Elaine Logan; and by his parents.
In lieu of flowers, his family requests donations to the Solano County Library Foundation.