Remembering Bob Baines

Bob Baines and I had a long running joke. Every time I’d introduce him as my “old principal,” he’d correct me and say “former principal.”

The former mayor of Manchester, past principal of Manchester High School West and current Manchester School Board member died in Boston on Jan. 23 due to complications following heart surgery.

Baines and I occasionally bumped each to each other at the Puritan Back Room restaurant, where we would spend a few minutes catching up. My wife, Jeannie, and I, both West High alumni, first met Baines when he became principal our senior year in 1980.

“Late Night” host Seth Meyers, a former Bedford resident who attended West High, called him “one of the good ones.”

“I always counted myself lucky to go to a high school where the principal knew your name and expected the most from you (and respectfully let you know when you were coming up short),” Meyers wrote in an Instagram Post the NH Union Leader included in a story about Baines. “I’ll miss running into him when I go home to visit. Condolences to his loving family.”

While I go back a long way with Baines, there was a long break between us. Most of my knowledge about his political career came second-hand from my mom. I left New Hampshire in the mid-1980s, and did not move back to the Granite State until more than 25 years later.

Bob Baines participates in a Manchester School Board meeting Nov. 12, 2024. (Screenshot/Manchester Public Access)

Baines was one of the people who helped me reconnect with my native city. During the 11 years I worked for the Union Leader as an editor and columnist, Baines communicated with me frequently, emailing me tips about stories he thought we should report and sending photos when all of the city’s living mayors posed for a portrait at a local event.

I can thank Baines for connecting me with Meyers, whom I had the honor of interviewing in advance of a fundraising performance by the stand-up comic at the Palace Theatre. We shared stories about West High and some of our favorite teachers (including English teacher Joe Sullivan). You could tell Baines was proud of what Meyers had accomplished and cherished that West High connection.

The lifelong resident of Ward 9 and prominent Democrat served as principal at West High for nearly 20 years, and his support for education never faltered. After serving three terms as mayor, from 2000 to 2006, Baines concentrated on improving city schools.

In 2018, he co-founded Manchester Proud, an organization that aimed to forge partnerships between the school district, businesses and nonprofits to champion student success.

A couple of years later, Baines connected me with some of the primary players involved in the group for columns I wrote for the Union Leader when Manchester Proud had completed a strategic plan for the city’s 22 schools.

He was happy to stay in the background and let others do the talking, but I gave him props.

“This conversation was initiated by former Manchester Mayor Bob Baines, who showed up at our offices the day before and offered some background on how Manchester Proud came to be and how much is at stake for the Queen City,” I wrote in a January 2020 column.

“I could hardly deflect his request: Baines was my principal at Manchester High School West. And when you get a call from the principal’s office, the only answer is ‘yes.’”

Baines had a long history of saying “yes” to civic duty.

For 20 years, he hosted the “Bob Baines Blarney Breakfast,” which raised more than $1.5 million for charity. Baines established the fundraiser in honor of his sister, Shirley Brulotte, who died in 2006.

“For our family, she represented the role model of giving back to the community,” Baines told the group of more than 400 people gathered at the DoubleTree Hotel for the final breakfast in March 12, 2020.

For the city of Manchester and the Granite State, Baines represented that role model. He definitely was “one of the good ones.”

We need more of them, especially right now. We will miss you, Bob.