Attorney's diverse interests led to a full life
Melvin B. Bassi
By Richard Byrne Reilly, TRIBUNE-REVIEW, Friday, May 4, 2007

Melvin Bassi's first order of business upon graduating from Charleroi High School in 1944 was to join the United States Navy. During a mission in the South Pacific, Bassi's destroyer was damaged in a typhoon. The crew abandoned ship and swam to an island off the coast of Okinawa occupied by Japanese soldiers. The sailors managed to elude the enemy and were rescued.

Melvin B. Bassi, of Charleroi, died Wednesday, May 2, 2007, after suffering a heart attack. He was 80.

When he was posted to another ship, the USS Pawnee, he met a cousin from his hometown who was also in the service, said his son, Brad Bassi.

"It was intriguing. He met his cousin, who was also his good friend, on the boat," Bassi said.

Upon discharge, Mr. Bassi studied economics at Washington & Jefferson College. He received his law degree from the University of Pittsburgh and started his own law firm.

"He hung a shingle outside his office on the main street of Charleroi and waited for customers to show up," said his son, also an attorney. Ambitious and intelligent, Mr. Bassi built the firm from one to 14 attorneys.

Mr. Bassi became president of the Charleroi Federal Savings Bank, a position he held for 37 years until 2000, when he stepped aside to chair the board of directors. He helped expand the bank from a single branch in town to eight regional offices with $400 million in assets.

Mr. Bassi, a Civil War buff, served on the Washington County Redevelopment Authority, was the Washington County solicitor for 14 years, a county commissioner and a solicitor for the Charleroi School District. He coached baseball, and was a referee for high school and college football games. He turned down an offer to referee pro football.

"He left his mark," Brad Bassi said. "He had so many diverse interests that nobody could understand where he got the time to do it all."

Mr. Bassi was born Nov.14, 1926, in Charleroi, to Bruno and Clara Bassi, and married his high school sweetheart, Lilian Majoros. The couple had four sons: Brad, Keith, Neil and Mitchell, who survive. Mr. Bassi also is survived by his wife and a sister, Beverly Green.

Mr. Bassi was not one to sit idly. Three days before his death, he was traipsing over Civil War battlefields and cemeteries in Tennessee. He traveled to Alaska last winter, where a bush pilot deposited his small group deep in the brush to fish for salmon.

"The most amazing thing about him was his ability to generate friendships," Brad Bassi said.

Friends will be received from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday, and from noon to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday at Schrock-Hogan Funeral Home & Cremation Services, 226 Fallowfield Ave., Charleroi. A funeral service will be conducted at 11 a.m. Monday at the Christ Lutheran Church, Charleroi, with The Rev. Kenneth Schott officiating.

Richard Byrne Reilly can be reached at rreilly@tribweb.com or (412) 380-5625