William "Kenny" Baker, a West Ocean City hotel owner and Worcester County planning commissioner, died Tuesday at his home in Berlin after a four-year battle with throat cancer. He was 64.

Mr. Baker began his resort career by managing the Carousel hotel's restaurant in the mid-1960s. In 1972, he bought the Francis Scott Key Motel at U.S. 50 and Elm Street in West Ocean City and over the years more than tripled its number of rooms to the current 212.

"People thought he was nuts to purchase this hotel in West Ocean City ... surrounded by cornfields," said his daughter, Annemarie Dickerson of Berlin. "But he had vision and knew what was going to happen in the future."

In the early 1970s, he started Baker Realty, just in time to benefit from a boom in condominium building in Ocean City. He ran the company until 1986.

"He had one of the earliest computerized rental systems in Ocean City," his daughter said. "The computer was half the size of a room."

For the past 2 1/2 years, he was a member of the Worcester County Planning Commission.

"He was so excited about that whole process," said Mrs. Dickerson. "He could just see something and what the future would hold for it if it were done in the right way."

Born in Bishopville and a nearly lifelong resident of the area, Mr. Baker graduated from Stephen Decatur High School in Berlin in 1956. He took classes at University of Maryland, College Park, and served in the merchant marine.

His 1966 marriage to Barbara Tucker ended in divorce.

Services were held Friday in Ocean City.

In addition to his daughter, he is survived by a brother, Richard A. Baker of Ocean City; two sisters, Joanne Baker Johnson of Berlin and Bertha Baker Johnson of Ocean City; three grandchildren; and his companion, Sherry Dare of Ocean City.