| United States Under Secretary of Health and Human Services | |
| Term Start: | 1983 |
| Term End: | 1984 |
| President: | Ronald Reagan |
| Predecessor: | John Svahn |
| Successor: | Don Newman |
| Birth Name: | Charles Duane Baker III |
| Birth Date: | 21 June 1928 |
| Birth Place: | Newburyport, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Party: | Republican |
| Alma Mater: | Harvard University (BA, MBA) |
| Spouse: | Alice Ghormley |
| Children: | 3, including Charlie |
| Allegiance: |  United States |
| Branch: | United States Navy |
| Serviceyears: | 1946–1953 |
| Rank: | Lieutenant junior grade |
Charles Duane Baker III (born June 21, 1928) is an American businessman and politician who served as United States Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services from 1983 to 1984, under President Ronald Reagan. Prior, he served in several departmental roles during the Richard Nixon administration. He is the father of the former Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker.
Charles Duane Baker III was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts.[1] He was the son of Charles D. Baker, Jr. (1971), a prominent Republican politician from Newburyport, Massachusetts, and Eleanor (Little) Baker. His grandfather was also named Charles D. Baker (1846–1934), and was a United States Attorney and member of the New York State Assembly.[2] [3] The young Baker had two sisters, Caroline R. Baker and Nancy B. Kobick.[4]
Baker spent 1946 to 1948 in the United States Navy in aviation, and returned from 1951 to 1953. In the Navy, he achieved the rank of lieutenant (junior grade). He then returned to Harvard, receiving an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School in 1955.
He moved to Elmira, New York after graduation, where he became a buyer for the Westinghouse Electric Corporation. Baker served as vice president of United Research, an economic research firm, from 1961 to 1965.
In 1965, Baker became vice president of Harbridge House, a management consulting firm, part of whose client base included the United States Department of Defense, Department of Health and Human Services, and Department of Transportation.
Throughout his career, Baker served the following roles: United States Deputy Under Secretary of Transportation (1969), Assistant Secretary of Transportation for Policy and International Affairs (1970–1971), and Under Secretary of Health and Human Services (1984–1985).[5]
In 1985, he became a professor at the Northeastern University College of Business Administration.[6]
He married Alice Elizabeth "Betty" Ghormley of Rochester, Minnesota on June 4, 1955.[7] [8]
They had three sons, including Charles Duane Jr.[9]