Gordon Badger Baker was born in Dillon, South Carolina, the son of Chief Justice David Gordon Baker and Julia Badger Baker. He graduated from Florence High School, attended the University of North Carolina, and received an LL.B. from the University of South Carolina Law School in 1931. He earned the Block “C” in track and field and was a member of the ODK leadership fraternity. Judge Baker practiced law in Florence for 40 years and served as Judge of the Twelfth Circuit from 1948 until his death in 1973. He served as County Attorney, Legislator, Chairman of the County Democratic Party, and as a member of the American, South Carolina and Florence County Bar Associations. He attended the First Baptist Church of Florence.
His wife, Ethel Elise Singletary Baker survived him, along with their son, G.B. Baker, Jr., their daughter Julia B. Dudgeon, and grandsons, G.B. Baker, III and Gordon Baker Dudgeon.
He was an able trial judge, a devoted husband, and a loving father. A perceptive student of the law, he administered its principles with skill, fairness and firmness, and was universally regarded by the Bench and Bar as upholding and measuring up to the highest traditions of the judiciary of our State.