Frank Baker

A group of Spelman College students has received a blessing, akin to one that Morehouse College graduates received last year.

Frank Baker, co-founder and managing partner of private equity firm Siris Capital, alongside his interior designer and philanthropist wife, Laura Day Baker, has gifted Spelman College $1 million to cover outstanding tuition for select students and fund a scholarship at the esteemed women’s college.

“We are all aware of the headwinds that people of color — especially women — face in our country, the challenges of which are made even more apparent by the economic and health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Frank and Laura Day Baker said in a statement.

Baker worked with Spelman’s board of trustees to identify 50 women in need of economic aid and donate to their student accounts.

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Baker was inspired by his former Goldman Sachs colleague Robert F. Smith, the Black billionaire who made headlines after covering the student debt for Morehouse College’s Class of 2019.