Lawrence J. Baack (born May 13, 1943) is an American historian of modern Europe, with a particular interest in Germany and Scandinavia, and a sub-specialty in Antarctica.
[2] At Berkeley, his advisor was Raymond J. Sontag, the well-known scholar in European diplomatic history,[3] and he was on the varsity track team, and a member of The Big C Society,[4] running under the legendary Olympic coach Brutus Hamilton.
He subsequently held a number of executive positions at PG&E, including head of the community and governmental relations departments and vice president for corporate planning.
He served as President of the Bay Area Economic Forum, a leadership partnership of governmental, business, university, environmental, community and labor leaders in the region.
[14] He was also Chairman of the Bay Area Defense Conversion Task Force charged with the challenge of dealing with the closure of twelve military bases in the region in the wake of the end of the Cold War with the attendant loss of over 250,000 jobs.
[16] In retirement, Baack returned to academic research and was a visiting scholar in the history department at the University of California, Berkeley from 2003 to 2011.