J. Robert Praised As “A Giant Among Men” By The Erie-Times News
This memorial website was created in loving memory of J. Robert Baldwin. He was born in Erie, Pennsylvania on November 01, 1917 and passed away on August 09, 1995 at the age of 77. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by two brothers: James, and Richard Baldwin; two sisters: Esther Allen and Margaret Thomson. He was survived by his loving wife of 48 years, his brothers, George and Arthur Baldwin, his four sons and their wives, two daughters and their husbands, and twenty grandchildren.
“The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.” – Samuel Johnson
By this measure and by so many others J. Robert, who at the time of his death was hailed as a great man, was also truly a good man. His vision, energy, affability, and willingness to lead brought him success in life but it was his genuine interest in and caring for others that brought him the friendship and respect he valued most.
Though he was a well-known philanthropist in the Erie community, at heart he was a very practical man who loved a bargain and lived personal frugality. He seldom passed by a flea market or fire sale without finding a great buy. Perhaps his favorite personal aphorism and one that he repeated often with a mischievous twinkle in his eye was “A fool and his money are soon parted”. His company cars over the years were Chevy Bel Aires and for the last years of his life he drove a Ford Escort Station Wagon. His little car suited his practical nature perfectly because it was economical, unpretentious, and conveniently carried all the tools and supplies he needed to keep himself busy at his country ranch in McKean, PA.
He loved working with his hands and using his tools, equipment, and gadgets. He was always fixing or making something for someone, whether it was building furniture, carving wood, repairing pocket watches, cutting semi-precious stones, or silversmithing rings for his daughters or his friend’s children or his granddaughters. He also loved to work on his ranch grooming the grounds with his tractor and bulldozer and for several years tended to and raised a herd of beef cattle with the help of his country friends and neighbors.
He loved to play tennis, built a beautiful asphalt court in his backyard, and continued to play vigorous doubles with his crew of tennis buddies (including Chuck Dailey, Howard Henderson, Jerry Shapiro, Bob Sturm, Al Juniewic ...
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J. Robert Praised As “A Giant Among Men” By The Erie-Times News
This memorial website was created in loving memory of J. Robert Baldwin. He was born in Erie, Pennsylvania on November 01, 1917 and passed away on August 09, 1995 at the age of 77. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by two brothers: James, and Richard Baldwin; two sisters: Esther Allen and Margaret Thomson. He was survived by his loving wife of 48 years, his brothers, George and Arthur Baldwin, his four sons and their wives, two daughters and their husbands, and twenty grandchildren.
“The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.” – Samuel Johnson
By this measure and by so many others J. Robert, who at the time of his death was hailed as a great man, was also truly a good man. His vision, energy, affability, and willingness to lead brought him success in life but it was his genuine interest in and caring for others that brought him the friendship and respect he valued most.
Though he was a well-known philanthropist in the Erie community, at heart he was a very practical man who loved a bargain and lived personal frugality. He seldom passed by a flea market or fire sale without finding a great buy. Perhaps his favorite personal aphorism and one that he repeated often with a mischievous twinkle in his eye was “A fool and his money are soon parted”. His company cars over the years were Chevy Bel Aires and for the last years of his life he drove a Ford Escort Station Wagon. His little car suited his practical nature perfectly because it was economical, unpretentious, and conveniently carried all the tools and supplies he needed to keep himself busy at his country ranch in McKean, PA.
He loved working with his hands and using his tools, equipment, and gadgets. He was always fixing or making something for someone, whether it was building furniture, carving wood, repairing pocket watches, cutting semi-precious stones, or silversmithing rings for his daughters or his friend’s children or his granddaughters. He also loved to work on his ranch grooming the grounds with his tractor and bulldozer and for several years tended to and raised a herd of beef cattle with the help of his country friends and neighbors.
He loved to play tennis, built a beautiful asphalt court in his backyard, and continued to play vigorous doubles with his crew of tennis buddies (including Chuck Dailey, Howard Henderson, Jerry Shapiro, Bob Sturm, Al Juniewicz, Mike Yarbenet, Bary Levin, and many others) into his seventies. While in his forties and fifties he vacationed in Jamaica during the winter and played tennis at the Montego Bay Racket Club. There he and his friends met, befriended, and recruited talented young Jamaican tennis players for the tennis team at Erie’s Mercyhurst College where he endowed and built an indoor tennis facility and provided scholarships for his tennis recruits.
As a young boy and young man J. Robert worked in his father’s construction business in Erie, PA where he claimed to have gotten his real education in the “school of hard knocks”. Actually, he graduated from Strong Vincent High School in 1935 and went on to spend two years at Cornell University before returning to Erie with a desire to get back to work building homes.
He was a patriot who served as a command officer with the Army Engineering Corps in France during WWII. He destroyed bridges that stopped the Germans and built bridges that allowed the allies to advance. After the war his construction and development company, which he ran in partnership with his younger brother Arthur, built and invested in hundreds of homes, apartments, commercial buildings and developments in Erie and across the United States.
During the Presidential election of 1960 he served as the chairman of the Erie County Democratic Party. When Jack and Jackie Kennedy visited Erie, he and his wife met them at the Erie airport and shared the elevator ride with them as they visited the air traffic controllers in the airport’s control tower. J. Robert served on many boards and was past president of the Economic Development Corporation of Erie County and the first chairman of the Erie Redevelopment Authority. He served on the Erie Metropolitan Transit Authority from 1981-94 (as its chairman from 1981-88). Other organizations he served as a board member and fund raiser were The Erie YMCA, The Harborcreek School for Boys, Crossroads, The Greater Erie Community Action Community, The Martin Luther King Center, and The Community Country Day School. At the time of his death he was the honorary chairman of Library 21, a campaign to raise funds for the new Erie County Library. He had previously chaired the public library’s fund raising campaign in the early 1980s and chaired the forerunner of today’s library board.
On his death this affable and modest man was lionized by the Erie Times-News as one of Erie’s greatest and most historic community leaders. His obituary headlined him as a “Giant Among Men”. Governor Tom Ridge came to his funeral along with hundreds of other well-wishers and told us wonderful stories about his goodness, his common touch, his vision, and his public spirited energy. He gave generously of himself and his resources to the Erie community and especially to Mercyhurst College where he endowed several buildings. He was not a religious man but considered himself to be more of a humanist with a personal philosophy like Thomas Jefferson or Albert Einstein. He deeply cared about people and went out of his way to help and create opportunities for those he knew. Hearing all the personal stories, as we did during his viewing and funeral, it is difficult to imagine how anyone could have touched so many people in a single lifetime.
We think of him often and remember the love, dedication, and light he brought to our family and so many others in the Erie community. To this day we miss him terribly. We are extremely grateful to the hundreds of people who came to visit us at the Quinn Funeral Home to pay their respects and tell us their heart-warming stories about him, it was a wonderful tribute and a comfort to us. Thank you so much everyone.
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