Longtime San Diego Business Journalist and Author Don Bauder Dead at 88

Donald Charles Bauder, a longtime San Diego business journalist, died Friday at his home in Salida, Colorado.

Bauder was born on May 28, 1936, in Chicago to Donald Charles and Eleanor Goble Bauder.

He grew up in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, where he graduated from Glenbard High School. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1959 with a BA degree in Business Administration. As a senior he was the Editor of the Daily Cardinal, the university’s student newspaper.

This set him on a path to a lengthy and distinguished career in journalism. After serving in the U.S. Army he returned to the university to earn a MS degree in Journalism.

In 1962 he married Ellen Templeton of Evanston, Illinois. They celebrated their 61st wedding anniversary in September 2023.

His first job was with Illinois Bell Telephone, but he soon moved to the Chicago Bureau of Business Week magazine, and two years later became its Cleveland Bureau Chief. He served in this position for seven years and covered all the major industries and businesses in Ohio.

The year 1973 brought a new position as financial editor and columnist for the San Diego Union. When the newspaper became the San Diego Union-Tribune, Bauder became a senior columnist for the combined papers, for a total of 30 years with the newspaper.

Based on his reporting on the J. David scandal, he wrote Captain Money and the Golden Girl, which landed on the Los Angeles Times best-seller book list for over two months. He was often on local television and radio shows, and a visiting scholar at the journalism schools of the University of Wisconsin and the University of Missouri.

After retiring from the San Diego Union-Tribune, he and Ellen moved to Salida where he continued for 15 years to write columns and feature articles for the San Diego Reader, the wonders of the internet allowing him to work remotely. He fully retired in 2018.

He loved classical music, especially opera, and served on the board or advisory board of the San Diego Opera for 30 years. In Salida, he continued to pursue his musical passion as a board member of the Salida Aspen Concerts for 12 years. He was a prodigious fund raiser for this organization as he had been for the San Diego Opera. He and his wife hosted many post-concert receptions for the musicians.

He was preceded in death by his parents Eleanor G. and Donald Bauder. and his brother George Bauder.

Survivors include his wife Ellen, sons Clinton and Russell (Carolyn Huynh) Bauder. and two grandsons, Matthias and Dashiell Huynh-Bauder.

There will be no services.