MITCH BADEN A BACKGROUND ON MIBA recently interviewed Mitch Baden, the president and CEO of Royal Banks of Missouri, about his life, career and work perspectives. Mitch was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and has lived most of his life there. Mitch’s father, Arthur Baden, worked at a meat processing plant. “Dad started as the cleanup man in the meat plant. He was a smart guy and worked hard,” said Mitch. “Everybody liked him; he was the life of the party! My dad worked his way up to become the No. 2 person and the head of sales. He died far too young.” Arthur and his wife Betty had four boys and a daughter. He died at 39 of colon cancer when Mitch was only 12. Before Arthur died, he arranged for his three older sons to work at the plant. He wanted them to understand the importance of a college education. It worked. Banking was easy compared to the work they did at the plant. Mitch’s older brother Steve started Mitch in banking and helped raise the two youngest children. “I have always looked up to Steve, and I was proud to follow in his footsteps,” said Mitch. “Steve was the CEO at Royal Banks of Missouri for more than 20 years and retired in 2018. He was a great banker.” Mitch’s older brother Dale is now the national sales manager for a company in San Antonio. Mitch’s younger sister Donna worked as an officemanager but has now retired with her husband.The youngest child, Larry Baden, has a Ph.D. from the University of Kansas and is a journalismprofessor at Webster University in St. Louis. Mitch is the middle child and began working as a teller in June 1972 as a high school junior. Steve was working as a controller at Creve Coeur Bank, and Mitch visited him just after a teller was fired. “The head teller, Dee Pickle, came in ranting. Steve told her I was looking for a job, and she asked me three questions. The first was whether I could count backward by 10, the second was if I could add 10 and 20 together, and the third question was whether I could start working the next day. After that, I worked for the bank every year at Christmas and in the summer. She taught me that helping young people grow their careers was important. She probably put 20 young people my age through college. When she died, there 12 | The Show-Me Banker Magazine
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