Sunny Jo Ann Baker passed away peacefully on July 6, 2021 in Seattle, WA, from a brain tumor.

As the quintessential California girl, Sunny grew up in Santa Cruz and lived there through high school and loved surfing. After high school, Sunny earned two PhD. degrees. One from the University of Southern California in theoretical linguistics and a second from Arizona State University in media and computers.

Sunny married her husband, Kim Baker, in 1976. During her career she taught English as a second language and worked in high technology marketing at Intel, Microsoft and other companies. She was a professor at UCSD and California State. Sunny and Kim also had their own consulting company and wrote 28 life-style books on such diverse subjects as college after 30, project management and how to RV around the country. 

Kim Baker passed away unexpectedly in 2004. Having just been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, Sunny retired from teaching and indulged in her favorite things like playing the piano and watching any movie having to do with science fiction. She kept her hand in writing by updating some of the books she and Kim had written over the years.

Always at the ready to answer publishing questions from budding authors, Sunny started putting together a publishing company dedicated to authors over 65 years of age. Manor Publishing Collective became a reality during the COVID-19 lockdown and several of her San Diego authors were published. After her move to Seattle last year, Sunny was looking to grow the company before her untimely death.

While Sunny didn’t want a funeral or a lasting memorial, she asked that her friends and family remember all the good times and the memories you made with her.