{{short description|American politician}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}} {{Infobox person | name = Melvin B. Bassi | image = Melvin Bassi obit photo.jpg | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = November 14, 1926 | birth_place = Charleroi, Pennsylvania, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|2007|05|02|1926|11|14}}<ref name=byrne /> | death_place = Jefferson Regional Medical Center,<ref name=silver /> Jefferson Hills, Pennsylvania, | alma_mater = Washington & Jefferson College<br>University of Pittsburgh School of Law | occupation = Lawyer, banker, County Commissioner | political_party = Democrat<ref name=silver /> | spouse = Lillian<ref name=silver /> | children = 4<ref name=byrne /> }}
'''Melvin B. "Mel" Bassi''' (November 14, 1926 – May 2, 2007) was an American lawyer, public official, and banker in Washington County, Pennsylvania.
==Early life and family== Bassi was born on November 14, 1926, to an Italian family in Charleroi, Pennsylvania; his mother Clara was an Italian translator for travel agency and his father Bruno worked in a local mill.<ref name=byrne>{{cite news| last = Reilly| first = Richard Byrne| title = Attorney's diverse interests led to a full life| newspaper = Pittsburgh Tribune-Review| date = May 4, 2007| url = http://pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/rss/s_505982.html| access-date = 2012-02-08}}{{Dead link|date=March 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name=silver>{{cite news | last = Silver| first =Jonathan D.| title = Obituary: Melvin B. Bassi / Washington County attorney, bank president, youth coach| newspaper = Pittsburgh Post-Gazette| date = May 6, 2007| url = http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07126/783880-122.stm}}</ref> He graduated from Charleroi High School in 1944, where he had played football, basketball, and baseball.<ref name=byrne /><ref name=hof /> He later married his high school sweetheart, Lillian, with whom he had four children.<ref name=byrne /><ref name=silver />
After graduation from high school, he joined the United States Navy and became a signalman during World War II.<ref name=byrne /> During a typhoon that grounded the destroyer on which he was a shipman, he and his crewmates became stranded on Japanese-occupied Okinawa.<ref name=byrne /> They avoided capture and were later rescued.<ref name=byrne /><ref name=silver /> He later served on the USS Pawnee, where he coincidentally served with a cousin from Charleroi.<ref name=byrne />
==Education== After returning from the service, he became the first member of his family to attend college, studying economics at Washington & Jefferson College.<ref name=silver /> There, he was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity and played baseball for four years.<ref name=hof>{{cite web|title=Melvin Bassi '49 |work=Athletic Hall of Fame / Class of 2005 |publisher=Washington & Jefferson College |url=http://www.washjeff.edu/athletics/athletic-hall-fame/class-2005 |archive-date=2012-03-06 |access-date=2012-02-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120306141059/http://www.washjeff.edu/athletics/athletic-hall-fame/class-2005 |url-status=dead }}</ref> He played football alongside "Deacon" Dan Towler and Chuck Heberling, for a year before an injury forced him from the game.<ref name=hof /> Following graduation in 1949, he was offered a job with a Fortune 500 company on the condition that he anglicize his name to drop the "i." Bassi refused and enrolled in the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.<ref name=silver />
==Career==
===Legal career=== After being admitted to the bar, he opened his own firm on the main street of Charleroi, building the firm to 14 attorneys.<ref name=byrne /> His firm, Bassi & Associates, later included his sons Brad and Keith.<ref name=about>{{cite web|title=About Us |publisher=Bassi, McCune & Vreeland, P.C. |url=http://www.bmvlaw.com/about |access-date=2012-02-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120423231621/http://www.bmvlaw.com/about |archive-date=2012-04-23 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The firm has developed into the present-day Bassi, McCune & Vreeland, P.C. in Charleroi and Washington.<ref name=about />
He also served as solicitor of Washington County from 1981 through 1995.<ref name=silver /><ref>{{cite news | title = County Solicitor Named| newspaper = Observer-Reporter| date =July 3, 1981| url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=S-NhAAAAIBAJ&sjid=T3cNAAAAIBAJ&pg=3385,475132}}</ref> He spent 45 years as solicitor for the Charleroi School District.<ref name=silver /> He was also chair of the Washington County Redevelopment Authority from 1956 to 1970.<ref name=silver />
All told, he practiced law for more than 50 years and was known as a "lawyer's lawyer."<ref name=silver />
===Political service=== In 1994, he was named Washington County Commissioner to fill the term of Frank Mascara, who was elected to United States House of Representatives, agreeing not to run for re-election.<ref name=term>{{cite news | title = Bassi to Finish Mascara's Term on Commission| newspaper = Pittsburgh Post-Gazette| url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=PwkwAAAAIBAJ&sjid=fm8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=2059,5395156| date= December 6, 1994}}</ref> He served until 1995.<ref name=term /> A Democrat, he was succeeded by Republican Diana Irey, who he mentored after she won the election to succeed him.<ref name=silver />
===Charleroi Federal Savings Bank=== In 1958, he became a director of the Charleroi Federal Savings Bank, attaining the position of president of the bank in 1963.<ref name=silver /> In 2000, he stepped aside to be chairman of the board of directors.<ref name=byrne /> During his tenure, the bank went from a single branch to a regional bank with 8 offices and $400 million in assets.<ref name=byrne />
==Personal life==
He died of a heart attack on May 2, 2007, at Jefferson Regional Medical Center in Jefferson Hills, Pennsylvania.<ref name=silver /> He was buried on May 7, 2007 at Monongahela Cemetery. He was a youth baseball coach for 18 years and a regional football referee for decades.<ref name=silver /> He worked as a football referee for high school and college games, turning down an offer to be a referee for professional football.<!-- Unclear from source if this was NFL offer or some other pro league --><ref name=byrne />
In 1973, he was named to the Washington & Jefferson College Board of Trustees.<ref name=hof />
He had a fascination with the American Civil War, visiting historical sites in Tennessee just days before his death.<ref name=silver />
==Legacy and recognition== {{quote box|quote = When Mel Bassi died earlier this month, the entire valley mourned. Among the more than 3,000 people who waited in line to offer their condolences to his family were day laborers, country club leaders, doctors, housewives, grocery store check-out clerks, childhood friends, construction workers, and bank presidents. What had Mel done during his life that drew so many people to praise him in death? His life is a parable for us all. |width = 37% |align = right|source = —Tori Haring-Smith at the W&J Commencement 2007<ref name=ths2007 />}}
During the 1980s, he was a key figure in raising $1.5 million for the Mon Valley YMCA.<ref name=silver />
In 1998, he received Washington & Jefferson College's Entrepreneur of the Year award.<ref name=hof /> In 2005, he was named to the Washington & Jefferson College Athletic Hall of Fame and received the Robert M. Murphy Award.<ref name=hof /> In 2006, he received the Washington County Chamber of Commerce Exceptional Community Commitment Award.<ref name=chamber>{{cite news | title = Chamber Recognizes Three Businesses at Awards Banquet| newspaper = Observer-Reporter| date = November 17, 2006| url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=05Y1AAAAIBAJ&sjid=8igMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3084,43920738}}</ref>
Upon his passing, the Mon Valley Regional Chamber of Commerce began the Melvin B. Bassi Memorial Golf Tournament in his honor, with the proceeds going to Leadership Washington County.<ref name=golf>{{cite news| title = Mon Valley Chamber dedicates annual golf outing to Melvin B. Bassi| newspaper = Pittsburgh Tribune-Review| date = July 22, 2007| url = http://pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/rss/s_518270.html}}{{Dead link|date=March 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> During the 2007 Commencement for Washington & Jefferson College, President Tori Haring-Smith dedicated a large portion of her speech to the graduating class to Bassi's legacy.<ref name=ths2007>{{cite web|last=Haring-Smith |first=Tori |author-link=Tori Haring-Smith |title=Valedictory to the Class of 2007 |publisher=Washington & Jefferson College |date=May 19, 2007 |url=http://www.washjeff.edu/presidents-office/speeches-remarks-and-letters/valedictory-class-2007 |archive-date=December 12, 2012 |access-date=2012-02-09 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121212230822/http://www.washjeff.edu/presidents-office/speeches-remarks-and-letters/valedictory-class-2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bassi, Melvin}} Category:1926 births Category:2007 deaths Category:People from Charleroi, Pennsylvania Category:Players of American football from Washington County, Pennsylvania Category:Bankers from Pennsylvania Category:College football officials Category:20th-century American politicians Category:Pennsylvania lawyers Category:University of Pittsburgh School of Law alumni Category:Washington & Jefferson College trustees Category:Washington & Jefferson Presidents baseball players Category:Washington & Jefferson Presidents football players Category:United States Navy personnel of World War II Category:United States Navy sailors Category:20th-century American lawyers Category:20th-century American academics Category:Washington County commissioners (Pennsylvania)