Benjamin Rose Baker – Major General, United States Air Force

From a contemporary press report:

Benjamin Rose Baker, 73, a retired Air Force Major General who served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, died March 1, 1998 at his home in Rockville, Maryland after a heart attack.

General Baker, who lived in Rockville off and on since 1966, spent most of his 34-year military career with Air Force medical units. From 1966 to 1972, he was assigned to the office of the surgeon general and served as deputy surgeon general of the Air Force during part of that time. He retired in 1978 as deputy assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, then pursued consulting work, including efforts toward establishing a national database of organ donors.

He was a past president of the Society of Medical Consultants to the Armed Forces.

General Baker, a native of Hazard, Kentucky, attended Cumberland College in Williamsburg, Ky., then received a medical degree from the University of Louisville while serving in a Navy program for students. He did a surgical residency at Temple University Hospital and an internship at Philadelphia General Hospital.

He was a flight surgeon in Japan and Korea during the Korean War. He later served on the surgical staff of an Air Force base hospital in Florida and as chief of surgery and consultant in surgery with U.S. Air Force headquarters in Europe.

His military decorations and awards include the Legion of Merit and the Bronze Star.

Survivors include his wife of 43 years, Mary Jane Twichell Baker of Rockville; six sons, Benjamin Jr., of Falls Church, William B., of Gaithersburg, Richard P., of Germantown, Daniel C., of Downingtown, Pa., Timothy A., of Rockville, and Edwin P., of Vancouver, Wash.; a brother; and four grandchildren.

General Baker is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

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