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Holy Week resources and reflections

Robert P. Baskin new OUTLOOK publisher

Robert P. Baskin, a Richmond, Va. financial and business executive and active Presbyterian layman, has been named publisher of "The Presbyterian Outlook" effective January 3, according to a recent announcement of the Presbyterian Outlook Foundation.

For the past two years, Baskin has been director of corporate services for EMC, a mechanical contractor in Richmond. He provided operational and financial support to a company that covers the East Coast, with responsibilities that include risk management, safety, training, and special projects.

Robert P. Baskin, a Richmond, Va. financial and business executive and active Presbyterian layman, has been named publisher of “The Presbyterian Outlook” effective January 3, according to a recent announcement of the Presbyterian Outlook Foundation.

For the past two years, Baskin has been director of corporate services for EMC, a mechanical contractor in Richmond. He provided operational and financial support to a company that covers the East Coast, with responsibilities that include risk management, safety, training, and special projects. For 10 years prior to joining EMC, Baskin was the chief financial officer and manager of distribution operations for Transmission Products. 

He is an elder at First church in Richmond, having served three terms as treasurer, two terms as chair of the nominating committee, and is starting his second term as Clerk of Session.  He is a member of the church’s endowment committee and chairs the budget and finance committee for the Presbytery of the James. In addition, he has been a committed community volunteer, having served on the board of ESI Connections (formerly Emergency Shelter) and as chair of the board of CARITAS, an interfaith organization of congregations providing shelter to the homeless.  He currently coaches youth soccer.

He is married to Elizabeth Wagner, and they are the parents of two lively seven-year-olds, Campbell and Mary Peyton. Elizabeth teaches Sunday School at First church but maintains her membership in St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in suburban Goochland County.

Baskin grew up in San Antonio and received a B.A. in economics from Washington & Lee University in Lexington, Va. and an M.B.A. from the Darden School at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. His father, the late Honorable Judge James D. Baskin, was a faithful Presbyterian elder in First church San Antonio. Jim Baskin served the church on a variety of Presbyterian Boards and General Assembly Committees: the Austin College Board of Trustees, Union-PSCE Board, the Committee for Social Witness Policy, The Presbyterian Committee on Northern Ireland, and the General Assembly’s Nominating Committee. Bob’s mother, Mary Baskin, is a deacon at the San Antonio church. 

His sister and two brothers are all active in the PC(USA).  Molly Baskin is a deacon at Fourth church in Chicago and a former trustee of McCormick Theological Seminary. She currently chairs the Presbyterian Investment Loan Program for the denomination. Jamie Baskin is an elder in University church, Austin, Texas and a trustee of Austin College. Stuart Baskin holds M.Div. and Ph.D. degrees from Union-PSCE, and is pastor of the First church, Greenville, Miss.

“Bob Baskin comes to the Presbyterian Outlook Foundation as publisher with a remarkable heritage of faith and service, and a sense of God’s call to serve the church through The Presbyterian Outlook, ” says Interim Editor O. Benjamin Sparks. “The Board of the Outlook extends this call to Bob Baskin and joins with him, trusting the leadership of the Holy Spirit for this particular moment in the life of the PC(USA) and the church universal.”

 

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