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- FLORIDA Historic - Dramatic - Contemporary
Family and Personal History (Volume IV)
Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc.
Harry Hood Bassett - With banking on the East Coast of Florida, Harry Hood
Bassett has been identified since his graduation from Yale University in 1940,
with the very large exception of years out for military service of his
country, and civilian aviation patrol activities. As vice president a
director of the First National Bank of Miami, and an official of other
financial institutions in the area, he plays an important part in the business
world of the city. Of wide personal interests he has entered many phases in south
Florida life and is exceptionally well known in community activitie
Harry Hood Bassett was born at Flint, Michigan, on May 6, 1917, son of
Harry Hoxie and Jessie (Hood) Bassett. His father, who died on October 25,
1926, in Paris, France, was the first vice president of General Motors
Company, and president of the Buick Motor Division of this vast corporation.
After attending the public schools of Flint and Jackson, Michigan, and a
private school in Palm Beach, Florida, the son prepared for higher education
in the noted Hotchkiss School at Lakeville, Connecticut, where he was
graduated in 1936. Matriculating at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut,
four years later he received his degree of Bachelor of Science in Industrial
Administration from its Sheffield Scientific School.
Beginning his business career after leaving Yale, Mr. Bassett in 1940
became assistant trust officer and director of the First National Bank of Palm
Beach, Florida. Becoming interested in the Civil Air Patrol of World War II,
and organization that did such splendid work with inadequate equipment, he
devoted his best attention to this endeavor until he entered the United States
Army Air Corps. Before being separated from the Armed Forces in 1946, he had
spent some fifteen months overseas in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, with
the rank of first lieutenant. Earlier he had been associated with the anti-
submarine patrol off the Florida Coast, for which he received the Air Medal.
He had enlisted in the United States Air Corps Reserve on September 15, 1942.
Upon his return to civilian life, Mr. Bassett was for some time trust
officer and a director of the First National Bank of Palm Beach. In April,
1947, he came to Miami with the First National Bank of this city, being named
assistant vice president in June of that year. Since July, 1948, he has been
vice president of this substantial financial institution. He likewise is vice
president and a director of the Coral Gables First National Bank; remains a
director of the First National Bank of Palm Beach, and serves on the boards of
directors of the Little River Bank and Trust Company, and the First National
Bank of Fort Lauderdale.
In civic, club and social affairs, Mr. Bassett is especially
prominent. He serves on the board of trustees of the University of Miami; the
board of directors of the Community Chest of Dade County, is an associa
member of the Orange Bowl Committee, a member of the Inter-American Cultural
and Trade Center Committee, and is a Rotarian. His clubs include the Bath Club
of Miami Beach, the Indian Creek Country Club, the LaGorce Country Club, the
Key Largo Anglers Club, Cat Key Club of Cat Cay, in the British West Indies,
and the Yale Club and the Madison Square Garden Club of New York Cit
attends All Souls Episcopal Church.
In July 1, 1946, in Paris, France, Harry Hood Bassett married
Marguerite Petitjean, daughter of Georges and Marie Emily (Biersohn)
Petitjean. Mr. and Mrs. Bassett are the parents of three children: 1. Harry
Hood Jr., born June 27, 1948. 2. and 3. George Rodney and Patrick Glenn,
twins, born June 2, 1950.
National Cyclopedia of American Biography
Picture Included
Bassett, Harry Hood, banker, was born in Flint, Mich., May 6, 1917,
son of Harry Hoxie and Jessie Marie (Hood) Bassett and grandson of William L.
and Mary (Tomison) Bassett. His father (q.v.) was a business executive. Harry
H. Bassett received his preliminary education at public schools in Flint and
Jackson, Mich., and Palm Beach, Fla., and at the Hotchkiss School, Lakeville,
Conn., and was graduated B.S. in 1940 at Yale University. He began his career
in the latter years as assistant trust officer and director of the First
National Bank, Palm Beach, and after returning from military service he became
trust officer of the bank, remaining in that post until the following year. In
1947 he joined the First National Bank of Miami, Fla., as assistant vice-
president, advancing to vice-president in 1948, assistant to the president in
1951, and chairman of the executive committee in 1959. Elected president of
the bank in 1962, he continued in that capacity until 1966. Since that time he
has been chairman of the board as well as chairman of the executive committee.
In 1967 the Southeast Banking Corp., Miami, was formed as a holding company,
with the First National Bank of Miami an affiliate, and since its inception
Mr. Bassett had held the additional titles of chairman of the board and chief
executive officer. He is also a director of several of its affiliates. The
First National Bank of Miami, the largest bank in Florida and the lead bank of
the Southeast Banking Corp., was founded in 1902, and in 1962, the year Mr.
Bassett became president, it had assets of $447,796,942 and 870 employees.
When the Southeast Banking Corp. was formed in 1967, it was comprised of three
banking affiliates. Since that time other banks have been acquired, and by
late 1971 it was comprised of fourteen affiliate banks and its lead ban
First National Bank of Miami. Non-banking affiliates were also acquired or
founded, and today these include Financial Carriers, Inc., First Foreign
Investment Corp., Southeast Data Processing, Inc., Southeast Financial
Services, Inc., Southeast Mortgage Co., Southeast Properties, Inc., Southeast
SBIC, Inc., and Southeast Services, Inc., all in Miami. The corporation has
affiliates in England, Luxembourg, Spain, and the Bahamas. With asse
$717,224,371 and 1066 employees in 1967, the year it was formed, Southeast
Banking Corp. and its subsidiaries had assets of $1,461,748,000 and 2481
employees in 1971, making it the largest registered bank holding company in
Florida. Mr. Bassett after leaving his post with the First National Bank, Palm
Beach, continued until 1971 to be a director of that bank, which is not an
affiliate of Southeast Banking Corp., and during 1965-71 he was chairman of
the board. He is currently a director of Eastern Air Lines, Inc., Gener
Development Corp., Maule Industries, Inc., and Wometco Enterprises. Since 1970
he has been a member of the federal advisory council of the Federal Reserve
System, representing the Sixth Federal Reserve District. Interested in public
and civic affairs, he served as a trustee to the Council of Latin America in
1969-70, and since 1969 he has been a trustee of the Committee for Economic
Development. He has been a member of the national board of Smithsonian
Associates since 1972 and is currently a member of the Orange Bowl Committee,
the Greater Miami Philharmonic Society, Inc., and the United Fund of Da
County, serving as general campaign chairman of the latter in 1969. He has
been chairman of the board of trustees of the University of Miami since 1970.
During the Second World War he was a member of the Civil Air Patrol in 1942-
43, and from 1944 until 1946 he served in the U.S. Army Air Forces, advancing
in rank from private to 1st lieutenant. Initially engaged in anti-submarine
patrol off the U.S. coast, he later served fifteen months in Europe, Africa,
and the Middle East. For his service he was awarded the Air Medal in 1943. He
was also three times recipient of the Silver Medallion of Brotherhood Award of the
National Conference of Christians and Jews in 1972. He is a member of t
American Banks Association, Association of Reserve City Bankers, Associated
Industries of Florida,, Economic Society of South Florida, the Biscayne Bay
(Fla.) Yacht Club, the Indian Creek County, Miami, and the Palm Bay clubs of
Miami, the Bath and LaGorce Country clubs of Miami Beach, the Everglades Club
of Palm Beach, Fla., the Ocean Reef Yacht Club of Key Largo, Fla., the
Metropolitan Club of Washington, D.C., the Bohemian Club of San Francisco,
Calif., the Yale and River clubs of New York City, and the Lyford Cay and East
Hill clubs of Nassau, Bahamas. His religious affiliation is with the All Souls
Episcopal Church, Miami Beach. Politically, he is a Republican. His
recreations include playing tennis, boating, and flying, and in connection
with the latter he holds a commercial pilot's license. Mr. Bassett has been
married twice: (1) in Paris, France, July 1, 1946, to Marguerite Petitjean of
Casablanca; he was divorced from his first wife in 1955; (2) in East Hampton,
N.Y., June 22, 1958, to Florence (Schust) Knoll, widow of Hans Knoll. By his
first marriage he has three sons: Harry Hood and twins, George Rodney a
Patrick Glenn.
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Bassett Family Association Database
1917 - 1991 (73 years)