BAKER WILL LEAD CAPITAL CAMPAIGN.

Byline: Helen Gao Staff Writer

GLENDALE - Ten months after retiring from the City Council, Sheldon Baker is undertaking another major endeavor, this time helping to launch a $25 million capital campaign for the Glendale Memorial Health Foundation.

Baker, who is a senior partner in the law firm of Baker, Olson, LeCroy & Danielian, was named the 2002 chairman of the foundation.

``I believe in the hospital. It's my hospital. It's a fantastic facility,'' he said Monday.

Soon after being elected to the City Council in 1993, Baker underwent surgery and was hospitalized for nearly two months at Glendale Memorial Hospital.

``I owe a great deal to the hospital, to the doctors and staff that attended me - just the incredible care that I received,'' said Baker, noting that two of his children were also born there.

Glendale Memorial, which celebrated its 75th anniversary last year, will use the money raised in the capital campaign to build a seven-floor patient tower and a two-square-block medical center and health campus to replace existing facilities. The current patient tower is more than 25 years old.

The project is estimated to cost $140 million, with the bulk of the cost to be covered by the hospital's operating revenues.

Michael Pfaff, executive director of the hospital foundation, said the capital campaign is expected to be formally kicked off next year.

``We have not finalized our preliminary plans. We are looking at two years to make the final decision,'' he said.

Baker will work with 31 other members of the hospital foundation to raise the funds.