“Giving is a debt we owe to the past that is repaid in the future,” says Beverly Baker Jackson ’97, lawyer, real estate developer and entrepreneur. She is the owner and manager of Baker & Baker Management Company, which develops and manages a diverse portfolio of residential and commercial properties in New York City, New Jersey, and Florida. She was instrumental in founding both the BLSA Endowed Scholarship and the Jesse R. Baker Memorial Annual Scholarship.
Jackson witnessed the impact of giving from her mother while growing up in Trinidad. “As a child I watched my mother’s selflessness as she fed hundreds of children in our community every year for over 50 years,” she says, emphasizing that her family was very poor and lived off the proceeds from the sale of fruits and vegetables on their property. Throughout her life, Beverly found ways to emulate her mother’s generosity by giving to others. “I guess it’s in my DNA” she laughs. “I have always had a desire to help. I did a lot of community service. I’m not comfortable when I’m not giving.”
Jackson’s passion has always been in real estate, and it is something else she learned from her mother. “‘You have to own property and do it early,’ my mother told me. When I was in my early 20’s, I bought my first property,” she says. “It required a $5,000 deposit. I worked and saved the money and bought it. I sold that one and bought another house, then I leveraged money from that home and bought buildings in Brooklyn. It was easy for me to leverage one property and buy another property. Before law school I managed 2000 subsidized residential apartments in New York City as a real estate broker and manager.”
She initially had no interest in the law or attending law school, but her husband, Hofstra Law alumnus Jesse Baker ’79, encouraged her to attend. “I intended to pursue an MBA in real estate, but my husband encouraged me to go to law school instead,” she says.
After graduating from Hofstra Law, Jackson practiced law with her husband’s firm, but ultimately returned her focus to real estate. “Law wasn’t my passion,” she says. “What I love is real estate. I went back to school at NYU to get a graduate degree in construction so I could build houses.”
Although she returned to real estate, she doesn’t regret her choice to go to law school. “My law degree has helped me quite a bit in my real estate work,” she says. “It was hard to go to law school but I’m glad I did. I still use my law degree every day.”
Jackson enjoyed her time at Hofstra Law. “It was a fun experience,” she says. She got involved with BLSA, and although she was about 10 years older than most of her BLSA classmates, she immediately bonded with them. Many remained friends for life. But she also saw the struggles that BLSA students were experiencing. “I observed that affording law school was very difficult for most BLSA students. I remember we begged alumni members to attend roundtable events, primarily for networking purposes, but also for the chance to get a good meal.”
At the end of her 3L year at Hofstra Law, Jackson decided to do something to help students. Instead of the annual concluding event, she encouraged the BLSA alumni and students to host a fundraiser to establish an endowed fund for future BLSA students. She says proudly, “At one of our events, we were even able to get former Governor Mario Cuomo as a guest speaker.” BLSA students, alumni members and professors contributed to the fund. “One of the first and largest contribution came from my favorite professor and friend, Professor Monroe Freedman.” Jackson and her husband also held several networking and fundraising events for current students and alumni at their home in New Jersey.
Each year, the BLSA Endowed Scholarship fund provides economic support to one or two BLSA students by way of scholarships of $1000 or more. The criteria require the participant to be a BLSA member in good standing, have a minimum GPA of 2.75, demonstrate a commitment to public service, and demonstrate financial need.
“To me, giving is as natural as breathing. I give not only to help others, but also to encourage others to give.”
Jackson was also instrumental in establishing the Jesse Baker Memorial Annual Scholarship in 2013. Her late husband, Jesse Baker, was a partner in the law firm, Gutman, Mintz, Baker & Sonnenfeld, PC. and a proud Hofstra Law alumnus. When he passed away in 2012 from pancreatic cancer, Jackson, along with the law firm, collaborated on giving an annual $5000 scholarship to a Hofstra Law student with a genuine interest in real estate. This scholarship also required the student to have a minimum GPA of 2.75 and demonstrate academic achievement and financial need.
Jackson’s giving isn’t limited to Hofstra Law. She has been an active volunteer in her community and gives to numerous organizations. She is a long-time member in the Link’s Inc.; The National Coalition of 100 Black Women; The Jessie Banks Foundation; The Urban League; NAACP; and a past Board member at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.
Jackson’s favorite quote by Michelle Obama is, “Life does not come full circle until you reach back, and you give other folks the same chances that helped you succeed.” She emphasizes, “To me, giving is as natural as breathing. I give not only to help others, but also to encourage others to give.”
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