Robert Baden; University Executive, Versatile Author

Robert Baden, the retired executive vice president of Concordia University in Irvine, has died, a spokesman for the Lutheran school said Friday. He was 64.

Marian Baden said her husband died Dec. 29 at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange after a three-year battle with cancer.

Baden began his education career at Concordia High School in Seward, Neb., where he taught English and coached football, basketball and baseball. He coached the basketball and baseball teams to four state championships.

Baden joined Concordia University, a four-year liberal arts school, in 1980 as an English professor. He served in several administrative posts before retiring in 1998. The college has 54 full-time faculty and 1,500 students; it is a member of the Concordia University System of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.

Baden also wrote textbooks, more than 10 Christian children’s books sold at Christian bookstores, and poems, hymns and anthems, according to Doug Fleischli, communications director at the Irvine campus.

A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. Jan. 13 in the Concordia University Center for Worship and the Performing Arts, 1530 Concordia West, in Irvine’s Turtle Rock neighborhood.

His family asked that any donations go to the Baden Scholarship Endowment, set up two years ago by alumni in honor of the Badens; Marian Baden is a former faculty member now on the university’s board of regents.

Robert Baden, who was a resident of Orange, is survived by his wife, four children and six grandchildren.