Telecheck Inc. founder Robert J. Baer dead at 89
By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer
Businessman Robert J. Baer, who founded Telecheck Inc., which became the world's largest check guarantee company, died Tuesday in Honolulu. He was 89.
Baer was born in Pittsburgh on Oct. 27, 1912. He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh and moved to Wisconsin, where he became president of Alemite Co., an auto parts distributor.
Robert J. Baer was an active member of the community.
In 1965, several Hawai'i businessmen approached Baer with the idea of a check verification system. They were having problems selling the idea and Baer told them he could do it.
A year later, Baer moved to Hawai'i and helped found what would become Telecheck Services. The check verification idea spread quickly and Telecheck soon became a worldwide franchise.
Carl Becker met the Baer family when he was a student at the East-West Center in 1971. Becker, who teaches medical bioethics at Kyoto University in Japan, said the Telecheck idea was all about helping local businesses.
"In those days, a guy comes to Honolulu from the Mainland with a checkbook or credit card and he wants to buy something, and the local merchant wants to sell him something, but neither of them can prove that the credit is good or not," Becker said. "Bob thought, 'Gee, if we can get it so the merchant can sell to anybody he wants and the customer can buy anything he wants, we would have more business and more happy people.'"
But work didn't consume Baer's life. He found time to participate in many community activities. He was a member of the Kiwanis Club for more than 40 years, was a 32nd-degree Mason, served on the boards of the Hawai'i Public Libraries Foundation, Honolulu Symphony and John Howard Society of Honolulu, and was a supporter of the Salvation Army.
In the late 1960s, Telecheck began a library program in O'ahu's prisons. Baer also served Thanksgiving dinners to the poor and passed out Christmas gifts to homeless children.
"He felt that being an adult in the community meant that you owed the community thanks for all that your community had done for you," Becker said. "And the way that we adults repay our thanks to our communities is not just by paying taxes, but by actively volunteering to help the community where it needs help."
Baer left Telecheck in 1983, but returned four years later as a consultant. In his retirement, he taught franchising at Hawai'i Pacific University. In 1991 he received an honorary doctorate from Louisiana State University.
Baer is survived by sons, Ronald and Jeffery; nine grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
Services will be at 1 p.m. Tuesday at Borthwick Mortuary. Donations may be made to the Salvation Army of Honolulu.
