‘His passion was helping others first.’ Bradenton philanthropist Ray Baden dies at 92
During his very long and productive life, Howard Ray Baden, who died Tuesday at age 92, was a family man, an entrepreneur, a world traveler, and a outdoorsman.
His enduring legacy, however, might be his philanthropy and the joyful way that he gave. Mr. Baden annually gave $100,000 through the Manatee Community Foundation, divided among 10 nonprofits that he personally selected and vetted.
Mr. Baden said the checks, drawn from the Ray and Sara Baden Fund, did as much good for his heart as it did for the recipients.
“A lot of people my age don’t realize what they are missing,” Mr. Baden once said as he presented checks to the nonprofits.
“I have a friend about my age,” Mr. Baden said. “He makes fairly good money. I asked him, ‘When you build a business from scratch and start to make money it makes you feel good, doesn’t it?’ He said, ‘Yeah, it does.’ I said, ‘You are missing a part of it.’ He said, ‘What do you mean?’ I said, ‘How do you feel when you help someone else who needs help?’ He said, ‘Oh.’ I was talking over his head.”
Among those mourning Mr. Baden this week was Susie Bowie, executive director of the Manatee Community Foundation.
“He truly impacted this county. He will be so missed,” Bowie said.
The zest with which Mr. Baden embraced philanthropy epitomized the way he lived life.
“Ray was a very special mix. He was always excited about what he was doing,” said his cousin, Nick Baden. “He was exactly 10 years older than me and I always looked up to him.”
Ray Baden was born Jan. 9, 1929, in Bradenton General Hospital, and grew up on the family’s dairy, located near the present-day campus of State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota.
Bradenton at that time was a rural community with plenty of woods, where a boy could safely range from 14th Street to the village of Cortez, hunting and fishing. His love of the outdoors later took him on fishing and hunting trips to the American West, Alaska, and elsewhere.
“Dad had a great life growing up here. How many kids can say they rode their horse to school?” said his son, Chris.
Mr. Baden earned a degree in animal husbandry from the University of Florida and served in the veterinary corps in the U.S. Army.
After his Army service, he went to work for an uncle and then bought out the business making burial vaults, and selling a variety of construction materials. He later made much of his money speculating in large land purchases.
“His passion was helping others first, and hunting, fishing, and world exploration,” Chris Baden said.
Mr. Baden and his wife, Sara, once flew to Ireland on the Concorde supersonic passenger jet and returned on the QE2, a British passenger liner.
Mr. Baden had been in poor health in recent years, and spent his final year with his son, Chris.
“One of the best years of our lives was the last year he spent with us,” Chris Baden said.
“He was more than my dad. He was my best friend, my business partner, my mentor, my disciplinarian,” Chris Baden said.
“There are funds that were established at MCF that are continuing to support public good works and as the business thrives we will provide support. One of my dad’s wishes for what he would do with the success from our joint venture would be to do additional community good works. It was his wish and his legacy,” Chris Baden said.
The joint venture is Trace Eye-D, security development company with a focus on counter-terrorism that has developed the science to detect explosive material traces with their patented chemical mixtures. The chemicals are infused into an easy-to-use wipe and can reveal the presence of explosive materials almost instantaneously, according to a previous Bradenton Herald story.
Mr. Baden was preceded in death by his wife, Sara, his sister, Frances Thomas, and his parents, Roy Francis Baden and Charlie Rea Miller Baden.
He is survived by his son, Chris Baden, daughters Joanna Baden and Virginia Baden, grandchildren Mathew Ruggiero, Anne Marie Ruggiero, Jamie Knowles, Cory Baden and Elizabeth Baden Knowles, and a cousin, Nick Baden.
The family is planning a celebration of life in April.
This story was originally published March 26, 2021 at 11:49 AM.
