R.I.P.: Yakima, WA Personality Joel Baker

Joel Baker

After struggling with mouth cancer for the past two years, local radio DJ Joel “JB” Baker died Wednesday.

He was 48, according to the Yakima Herald-Republic.

Though his cancer was aggressive, Baker’s family did not expect to lose him so soon.

“He loved us until the last minute,” his wife, Kelly Baker, said Thursday. While losing him is difficult, she said, “I had him for 14 years, and I’d do it all over again if it ended the same way.”

Baker was a DJ with country music station KXDD 104.1 FM. In his honor, the station will be playing old clips of Baker on the air through today.

“It’s a huge loss for this community and his family,” said Kelly Gasseling, station manager at KXDD. “He had an 8-year-old son that adored him, still does, and a 2-year-old little girl that had her daddy wrapped around her finger.”