Daily News
From Home Furnishing Business
Mike Baker Dies at 83
February 27,
2015 by in Industry, Obituaries 
Mike Baker, co-owner of the former Coconut Creek, Fla.-based Carl’s Furniture, has died this week following a lengthy battle with cancer. He was 83.
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Feb. 22, 1932, Baker married his wife Arlette in 1953 and they moved to Fayetteville, N.C., after he was drafted by the U.S. Army.
Upon his discharge, the Bakers returned to Cleveland where Mike Baker and a lifelong friend Robert Dragin began their career in the retail furniture business by opening Furniture Land. That chain was later sold.
In 1979 they moved to Boca Raton, Fla., where they grew Carl’s Furniture and its subsidiary Carl’s Patio to 27 stores. Carl’s Furniture closed following the recession, and Carl’s Patio was acquired by a private equity group.
In addition to his furniture industry service, Baker was very philanthropic serving as head of the Boca Raton Hospital foundation and a member of the hospital board, Boys and Girls Club and NCCJ. He was involved in the Boca Raton Hospital ball and the heart ball.
He is survived by his wife Arlette; son Jeff Baker and his wife Susan; son Scott; and daughter Teri Kennedy and her husband Ben Kennedy; and six grandchildren.
Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday at Temple Beth El 333 S.W. 4th Ave., Boca Raton, Fla. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that contributions be made to Boca Raton Regional Hospital, Hospice by the Sea, or Temple Beth El. Funeral Arrangements directed by Gutterman-Warheit Memorial Chapel.