Winslow F. Baker ’50 died on November 7, 2021, in West Chicago, Illinois.

(The following was provided by DuPage Cremations on November 7, 2021)

Winslow F. Baker ’50

Winslow “Win” Baker, age 94, of West Chicago, IL, passed away from complications of cancer on November 7, 2021.

He was born to Kenrick M. and Elinor Furber Baker in Brockton, Massachusetts on September 6, 1927. His mother passed away when he was just three years old, and his kind and gentle nature was shaped by his loving father, who took on the role of both mother and father to his sons.

Win began his higher education studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1945. He completed just one semester before being drafted into the army and sent to Korea, where he taught English. Upon his return, he continued his studies at Bowdoin College in Maine and earned a bachelor’s degree in physics. He went on to attend graduate school at Columbia University, receiving his PhD in 1957. After starting his career in particle physics at Brookhaven National Laboratory, he took a fateful trip in the summer of 1963 to visit his older brother in Geneva, Switzerland. It was on that trip that he first met his future wife, Ulla. He returned to Geneva a year later to work at the international physics laboratory CERN. After their marriage, he and Ulla lived in Geneva for several years until moving to Illinois. There he took a position at the newly-formed Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, where he worked until his retirement in 2007.

Win was fulfilled by his career, but he also had many other interests and hobbies. He loved photography and spent most of his later years digitizing the many photos and videos he had taken throughout his life. He designed the house that they built in West Chicago in 1970 and lived there happily for the rest of his life. His most beloved place on earth was his family’s summer home in Maine. He enjoyed food, especially his wife’s cooking, and always called himself “the best fed physicist”. Above all, he loved his family, who will all miss him greatly.

He leaves behind his wife of fifty-four years, Ursula “Ulla” Baker; daughters Stephanie Baker (Eric Shaffer) and Natalie (Joel) Lenz; grandchildren Alexander Winslow Shaffer, Sophie Shaffer, Evan Lenz and Nathan Lenz; nieces Katja and Nicole Baker, and nephew Christoph Baker. He was preceded in death by his parents and his brother, Kenrick M. Baker, Jr.