Interviewer: Jason Theriot

Affiliation: University of Houston

Larry Baker II followed his father into the offshore fabrication business at the Orange, Texas yard of the Levingston Shipbuilding Company, where Larry Baker, Sr., had worked since 1948. Larry Baker II started out in the 1960s as a pipefitter helper, rising quickly through the ranks. After spending several years in Singapore on assignment for Levingston, Larry Baker, Jr., returned stateside to find himself without a job. After a brief stint with Bethlehem Steel, the two Bakers founded Baker Marine in the mid-1970s, which grew during the remainder of the decade and into the 1980s to become an international leader in the fabrication of jack-up drilling rigs.