Fred Baden - Baden's Legacy

Baden's Legacy

Baden died at the age of seventy-five, several days after having been admitted to Rapides Regional Medical Center in Alexandria. He was on life support as a result of a fall at his home. Services were held on December 19, 2009, at the First Baptist Church of Pineville, located across the street from Pineville City Hall. Interment was at Mt. Olivet Cemetery.

When he left the office of mayor, Baden declared himself a true public servant: "What we get out of life is what we do for others. . . ."We made Pineville a city that everyone could be proud of. I would like to be remembered as a man that helped build the city that I loved. I would like to be remembered for all the accomplishments we made together as a dedicated team for the past twenty-eight years." He continued: "I never forgot that it was the people who put me there. They're the ones you listen to. They're the board of directors."

Former city council member Jack Wainwright said that Baden was known for his kindness to others and his excellent treatment of municipal employees: "I don't know of any employee that didn't like the mayor, because he was a good man." Robert F. Cespiva (born 1925), a former council member for sixteen years, said that Baden "had a big heart, especially for senior citizens. . . . He was color blind when it came to race."

Mayor Fields said that Baden's "prints are all over this city. He . . . cared about people and did everything he possibly could to help people. There's signs of it all over the city." Fields said that Pineville will honor Baden in "a great way" at some point in the future.

On January 28, 2012, Baden, along with Adras LaBorde, managing editor of the Alexandria Daily Town Talk, was posthumously inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield. At the induction ceremony, daughter Leah Baden recalled the poem "Don't Quit", which father made her and her siblings to recite. She continued: "As a child, a lot of people thought I should receive special treatment because I was the child of a politician. My dad always told me everyone should be treated the same, with kindness and respect."