Arthur R. Baxter

Arthur R. Baxter was a native of Indianapolis, born in 1932 to R. Norman and Jane Fargo Baxter.  He graduated from Park School and then Shortridge High School in 1950.  After serving in the United States Army during the Korean War, Arthur graduated from Wabash College in 1956.  He was a member of Beta Theta Pi Fraternity.

Art married Nancy Niblack in 1955, and they were the parents of six children, John (Heidi), Marybeth (Richard) Parker, Janet (Larry) Hale, Jim (Audree), Arthur (Elizabeth), and Dan (Ellen).  The couple had 17 grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren.

Arthur served as president of the Keyless Lock Company, the family business.  Then, changing the course of his life, he obtained a Master's degree in English from Butler University and after moving his family to Traverse City, Michigan, became headmaster of the Leelanau School in Glen Arbor, Michigan.

He and Nancy founded the Pathfinder School, an independent day school, in Traverse City in 1972.  The school, a member of the Independent School Association of the Central States, has just celebrated its fiftieth year.

After turning over the school to its trustees in 1980, Arthur served the National Association of Independent Schools in Boston and then returned to the Hoosier state to serve his alma mater, Wabash, as its Senior Gift Planning Counsel for Planned Giving.

In 2005, he joined his wife in book publishing at the two companies they established, Guild Press of Indiana, and then Hawthorne Publishing, where he served as president from 2006 to the present day.

Arthur Baxter had served on the board of the Indianapolis YMCA, Young Presidents' Organization, and various other mostly philanthropic groups.  He attended First Church of Christ Scientist in Carmel, where the couple lived for some twenty years.

A private family service will be held in Indianapolis.

In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be sent to The Founders Fund, Pathfinder School, Traverse City Michigan online or at 11930 SW Bayshore Drive, Traverse City, MI 49684.