Dates

• Existence: 1896-

Biography

Raymond Willard Baxter was born on April 20, 1896, in Chicago, Illinois. He graduated from Lane Tech in Chicago in 1914 and from the Winona College of Agriculture in 1917. After leaving the military at the end of W.W.I, Baxter entered the business world. He was the Iowa manager of the Beach Wickham Grain Company until 1925. That was the year he left to establish the grain brokerage firm of Schoff and Baxter. He became its sole owner in 1945. He was also a director of A.D. Hayes Company and Soya Beans, Inc.

Baxter was also active in civic affairs in Burlington, Iowa. He was president of the Burlington Rotary Club as well as serving as the city's postmaster from 1936 to 1943. Baxter was very involved in Democratic Party politics, at both the state and national levels. He was the Democratic county chairman and a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in 1932 and 1952. In 1956, Baxter was the chairman of the Iowa Stevenson for President Committee.

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