Roll Call Tribute

John Spencer Baen, II 

June 19, 1948 - April 9, 2024 

Dr. John Baen passed away suddenly on Tuesday, April 9, 2024. He was with some of his many friends on a fishing trip in Costa Rica. Following a few days of doing what he loved, he shared a meal with close friends, swapped a few stories and a joke or two, then suddenly collapsed and was unable to be resuscitated.

His visions beyond the American Dream and his incredible energy helped “make things happen” for his family and so many others fortunate to walk with him on his remarkably busy “road of life.”

Both of his parents, Spencer Roe Baen and Joyce Kirkland Baen, were natives of San Antonio, Texas. He was born June 19th, 1948, while his Army Officer father was completing two (2) PhD Degrees at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California.

Growing up as an “Army Brat” he lived in many places, relocating every few years. This helped him make friends quickly in school but more so while advancing his passion for hunting and fishing. These sports helped define his active lifestyle and love of travel to experience first-hand what many people read and may dream about.

Growing up he enjoyed other sports, including high-school crew (rowing) in the Potomac River during his father’s assignment at the Pentagon and frequent surfing in Hawaii while his father was stationed at Fort Shafter. Winter surf at Waimea Bay on the North Shore of Oahu is something few have ever seen, but John Baen gave the 30’- 40’ waves a try…

Many summers were spent with ranching cousins around the Gila Wilderness in SW New Mexico. Remote camping and hunting became a passion he would exercise regularly throughout his life, along with a familiarity and respect for Indigenous people. Other summers with South Texas cousins helped John Baen develop a familiarity and love of the Texas Gulf Coast. Here his passion was fishing because the surfing just wasn’t the same…

Upon graduating from SR Butler High School in Huntsville, AL, John Baen enrolled at Texas A&M University in College Station where his father and his great-uncle, Peter Henry Roe, had both graduated with Engineering Degrees. At that time, he wanted to become a veterinarian but earned his degree in Wildlife Sciences.

A growing love of the land and his interest in investment and development grew and his path unfolded towards Real Estate and Urban Planning. Early after graduating with his master’s degree from A&M he moved to the Dallas area where he learned more about commercial real estate as well as the value of nearby farms and ranchland for “city-folk” investors looking for weekend escapes.

With a mentor’s motto, “Real Estate is the True Basis of Man’s Wealth,” he began investing in small properties that led him to investments in the paths of big developments. At one time he and his then wife Elaine Zinko Baen lived in a small frame house with a small yard to hold a goat that allowed for an ag exemption in Addison, Texas, near what was destined to become part of the Bent Tree Country Club.

Foresight and investments in larger properties brought his dream of someday having his own closer to reality… but not before learning about the value of Agricultural and Wildlife property tax considerations as well as the importance of minerals, oil and gas in our global economy.

While attempting to support his hunting and fishing habits through real estate sales and investments, he realized he could make ends meet but not necessarily provide for a someday family. With an invitation to consider a teaching position at Northlake Junior College under long-time mentor, Gary Bacon, a college faculty career became more attractive, especially with employment benefits and as a stage for his love of performing.

Family was always important to John, but he and Elaine had not been able to conceive children of their own. They turned to the Edna Gladney Adoption agency that carefully researched parent wanna-be’s and eventually Blessed them with Jennifer Joyce Baen (10/09/1980) and Hunter Wood Baen (06/03/1985).

His faculty career options and opportunities seemed limited with his master’s degree, so he returned to Texas A&M to complete his PhD in Real Estate Development and Planning. “Dr. Uncle John,” as his nieces and nephews called him, was on a tenure track for a promising career as a full-time faculty member at then North Texas State University.

With health and retirement benefits secured and his love of “The Deal,” real-estate investing, and property management became his part-time, on-the-side, business, all while developing and presenting real-time “case studies” for his university students. These were sometimes for residential and commercial developments or sometimes his growing interest in the oil & gas industry that he was studying by contracting to drill his own wells.

His gifted students with entrepreneurial spirits of their own couldn’t get enough. Many began using his teachings beyond the classroom to create their own deals to capitalize on the growing experiences from their “professor,” often mentor and friend, John Baen.

Dreams of a game ranch and a hunting lodge for entertaining friends, family, and guests were realized in Jack County, Texas. Exotic deer and sheep, migratory ducks, stocked fishing ponds, and longhorn steer joined the native (and hybrid) white-tail deer behind his own high-fenced “yard.” Oil & gas developments there also brought significant property improvements from energy companies to further advance the value of their investments.

It was a long drive to his “real job” of teaching in Denton, Texas. But he managed it all amidst the disbelief of those who watched from the sideline… and those fortunate to enjoy the attention and hospitality that was available from “Dr. Uncle John” Baen.

Baen continued to practice what he preached in classrooms and grew an audience of listeners in corporate boardrooms and giant meeting halls for national and international conferences. However, some felt his perspectives were somewhat limited. A Texas educated professor at a Texas regional university wasn’t very impressive to some, so…

He accepted an endowed faculty position at Lincoln University near Christ Church on the South Island of New Zealand. He and his family moved half-a-world away from Texas for his new teaching job. But he also took with him his part-time jobs of real-estate investing, as well as his passions for travel and for hunting & fishing. His reputation for graduating young entrepreneurs from his classes grew, as did his passion and enthusiasm for real-estate investing and resource management.

Their return from New Zealand to their home in Jack County brought with it new challenges for their kids. Expanding his kids’ horizons through global travel during his speaking and consulting work was something he strived to do. From rural settings Jennifer and Hunter prepared for their own post-secondary educations. John Baen was so proud of his kids’ enrollment in Texas A&M University system with Jennifer at West Texas A&M and Hunter joining the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band in College Station.

Along with his teaching career, John Baen’s popularity as a consultant and expert witness, coupled with his enthusiastic and motivational speaking skills climbed higher. All of these “jobs” were his passion, and all helped him to continue to advance his “Case Studies” with a growing number of investors and people of generational wealth that needed someone they could unconditionally trust.

John Baen’s active roles in whatever Christian Church he lived near were noteworthy. But the demands for his time prevented volunteer leadership roles, particularly when it was hunting season, or a good Gulf fishing trip was being arranged. However, the evidence of his Faith and the strength of his convictions attracted more and more people in need of estate planning… Seemingly regular folks that “breathed different air” who were to become close acquaintances and friends over the decades that followed.

His voracious appetite for reading daily newspapers revealed so many land opportunities, constantly reminding everyone how easy it is to buy land. But he was also quick to caution how challenging it can be to sell land, even though his slogan “Anything worth having is worth selling” was often required for his investor-students to have an exit plan.

Along the way he recommended a family property investment in West Texas that would become known as “The Rainbow Ranch,” honoring his father, Spencer Roe Baen. His additional adjoining properties and the hunting leases arranged helped with his vision of developing a fairly large and desolate rock-pile on Texas’ Edwards Plateau, a legacy ranch.

To further demonstrate his creativity for income he befriended a Harvard PhD Physical Anthropologist faculty member to arrange and help conduct weeks long trips for “Indiana Jones” type adventures on the Rainbow Ranch. Hot and dry with storms that would decimate their primitive camps, participants were well cared for (and well fed and entertained!) by “Crazy John Baen.”

As times and relationships changed John Baen remarried in 2008. He and then wife Jamie Chokas brought sons Jaxon Spencer Baen (01/20/2010) and Jaeger Roe Baen (05/08/2012) into the world. Together their lives in North Texas were a whirlwind of activities, with travel, hunting, and fishing surrounding his continuing role as a popular Professor at UNT.

Following another divorce, Jaxon and Jaeger lived between their parents’ homes in Argyle, Texas, an easy commute for their dad and his continuing role at the University of North Texas. Their active lifestyles and participation in school sports and chess club tournaments is impressive by their own rights. Both boys are ranked Chess players.

Under their dad’s direction and training, both Jaxon and Jaeger are expert marksmen, not only in hunting, but in their competitive archery performances. Jaeger will again participate in the national archery tournaments this spring in Utah.

Outside of the classroom, hunting and fishing experiences were always hard to top: underwater fly fishing in Belize’s famed Blue Hole and bounty hunting invasive iguana lizards in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, are just two examples. Together with their older brother Hunter, the Baen Boys were planning another family hunting trip to South Africa for what would have been their dad’s 76th birthday this June.

John Baen will be remembered by many different people in many different ways for his impact on their lives, both personally and professionally. His strong Faith, his love for his family, his commitment to giving back, and that he died doing what he loved to do are certainly indications of his life being well-lived.

Following John’s death in Costa Rica, his son Hunter arrived the following morning to initiate the process with the US Consulate to get his dad back to The Republic of Texas. All are grateful and proud of Hunter’s learning from his father to “make things happen.”

John Baen is pre-deceased by his parents and his older sister, Rosemary Kay Baen Brooks of Dripping Springs. He is survived by his children Jennifer Joyce Baen of San Antonio, sons Hunter Wood Baen of Rosenberg, Jaxon Spencer Baen and Jaeger Roe Baen both of Argyle. Brothers Peter Roe Baen (Dee Dee) of San Marcos and Steven Paul Baen (Paula) of Ingleside, and Brother-in-law Henry H. Brooks, Jr. of Dripping Springs. Numerous nephews, nieces, great nephews, and great nieces will also miss their “Dr. Uncle John” dearly.

A celebration of John’s life will be held Monday, April 22, 2024 at 10:00 AM at the Murchison Performing Arts Center, University of North Texas, 2100 N Interstate 35, Denton, TX 76201

Arrangements are coordinated by DeBerry Funeral Home, Denton, Texas.Bill DeBerry Funeral Directors.