Pam Baer: The Do-Gooder

Those last two words have been a part of her vernacular since childhood, when her family helped the needy with clothing and food. At an early age, she taught Sunday school and developed a strong empathy for the underprivileged. That compassionate streak stayed with her through adulthood. She’s on the boards of the San Francisco General Hospital Foundation, Family House and the Giants Community Fund as well as a variety of advisory boards. It was her youngest son Zach’s harrowing accident—she and Larry celebrated their 25th anniversary in September and have four children ages 15 to 22—that led her to help The General, as the hospital in the Mission is called.

She’s still haunted by that day in 2001 when Zach slipped while running at home and crashed through a plate glass door. Paramedics rushed the boy to the city’s only trauma center, The General. The preschooler survived and plays sports today.

“The doctors at General still walk on water as far as I’m concerned,” Baer says with conviction. “I feel, in a way, blessed and grateful, even though at the time, it was the very worst time of my life. It’s still hard if I think about that day, but it also opened my eyes to a lot. It hit my compassion veins very strongly.”

The following year, Baer became a board member of the SFGH Foundation, where she is now Vice President, Community Leader. Her objective is to increase the awareness of the hospital. “The vulnerable populations here in the city [also] use the hospital day-in and day-out; we all need to support it,” Baer says.

To do so, in 2004, she helped create the “Hearts in San Francisco” program. The initiative grew to include two signature events, Heroes & Hearts and Hearts After Dark, which, altogether, have raised more than $13 million. Baer and Larry, along with Judy and Richard Guggenhime, co-chair the Capital Campaign, which raised $150 million—half from Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan—for a new acute care and trauma center that will be dedicated Nov. 21. She’s grateful to all of the generous community leaders who contributed. As she continues her work at The General, she’ll never feel like she’s repaid the hospital.

“When your child is saved,” Baer says, “no matter what, the check is never big enough.”

Whether she’s writing checks or pushing conscious consumerism, Baer is truly doing something—just like her grandmother encouraged her to do.