Melvin Bassi
| Melvin B. Bassi | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
November 14, 1926 Charleroi, Pennsylvania |
| Died | May 2, 2007 (aged 80) Jefferson Regional Medical Center Jefferson Hills, Pennsylvania |
| Cause of death | Heart attack |
| Residence | Monongahela, Pennsylvania |
| Alma mater |
Washington & Jefferson College University of Pittsburgh School of Law |
| Occupation | Lawyer, banker, County Commissioner |
| Political party | Democrat |
| Spouse(s) | Lillian |
| Children | Brad, Keith, Neil, and Mitchell |
| Parent(s) | Bruno and Clara |
Melvin B. "Mel" Bassi (November 14, 1926 – May 2, 2007) was an American lawyer, public official, and banker in Washington County, Pennsylvania.
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. He graduated from Charleroi High School in 1944, where he had played football, basketball, and baseball. He later married his high school sweetheart, Lillian, with whom he had 4 children.
After graduation from high school, he joined the United States Navy and became a signalman during World War II. During a typhoon that grounded the destroyer on which he was a shipman, he and his crewmates became stranded on Japanese-occupied Okinawa. They avoided capture and were later rescued. He later served on the USS Pawnee, where he coincidentally served with a cousin from Charleroi.
After returning from the service, he became the first member of his family to attend college, studying economics at Washington & Jefferson College. There, he was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity and played baseball for four years. He played football alongside "Deacon" Dan Towler and Chuck Heberling, for a year before an injury forced him from the game. 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.
After being admitted to the bar, he opened his own firm on the main street of Charleroi, building the firm to 14 attorneys. His firm, Bassi & Associates, later included his sons Brad and Keith. The firm has developed into the present-day Bassi, McCune & Vreeland, P.C. in Charleroi and Washington.
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