Emeritus Trustee Drew Baur Dies at 66
Andrew N. “Drew” Baur, a trustee emeritus at Washington and Lee, died on Sunday morning, Feb. 20, in Jupiter, Fla. He was 66.
Drew, a member of W&L’s Class of 1966 and a history major, was elected to the board in February 2005 and took the oath of office in October 2005. He retired from the board in 2009. At W&L, Drew belonged to Sigma Nu fraternity, edited the Southern Collegian and worked on the Ring-tum Phi. Among many activities, he served on the IFC, as president of the University Publications Board and as a dorm counselor.
Following graduation, he entered banking at the First National Bank of Atlanta, where he was elected an officer, and earned an M.B.A. from Georgia State University. In 1970 he returned to his hometown of St. Louis and joined Mercantile Trust Co., becoming vice president of the commercial loan division. At age 30, he moved to Commerce Bank of St. Louis, becoming the youngest bank president in the city as well as board chairman. He later joined County Bank of St. Louis as chair and CEO, and County Tower Corp., its holding company, as president and COO. When he was 40, Baur headed a group that bought Southwest Bank.
In 1995 Drew became a part-owner of the St. Louis Cardinals, the major league baseball team, and served as treasurer of the club. He also sat on the boards of Baker Shoe Co., Marshall & Ilsley Corp., Wausau Paper Co. and Orgill Inc. Drew’s civic honors included the 1996 Special Entrepreneurial Achievement Award and Sportsman of the Year. He was interviewed for the book “Staying Power: Thirty Secrets Invincible Executives Use for Getting to the Top . . . and Staying There” (2003).
For W&L, he had belonged to the Washington Society, the campaign leadership gifts committee, the reunion class committee and the alumni board, and he served as a chapter volunteer. He became an honorary member of Omicron Delta Kappa in 2000. Drew’s father, Andrew, was a member of the Class of 1937. He had three children, including Andrew, a member of the Class of 1990, and seven grandchildren.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
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