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- The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio, 16 Jul 2002
Ann Koblitz, founded ad agency
Cleveland - Ann Koblitz Bassett, 85, advertising agency executive, retired Cuyahoga Savings Association vice president and art collector, died Friday at her home in Cleveland. In 1946, she started the Ann Koblitz Advertising Agency, believed to have been the first Cleveland ad company owned by a woman. The Cleveland native closed her firm in 1962 to join Cuyahoga Savings as director of advertising and public relations. Three years later, she became vice president. She helped develop the thrift's charity card program, plan its retirement seminars and write the history for its centennial in 1993. She also helped choose the savings and loan's art collection. Bassett began colleting art in 1940. She served on the women's council and volunteered at the information desk of the Cleveland Museum of Art. She went on many trips with the Society of Contemporary Arts and the Print Club of Cleveland. The former Shaker Heights resident, who attended the Connecticut College for Women and Flora Stone Mather College, began writing advertising copy for the May Co. before completing her college education. During World War II, she handled day-to-day duties of a local advertising firm while its owner worked at a factory for the war effort. Bassett was a regional director of Fashion Group Inc., president of the Western Reserve Chapter of American Women in Radio and Television and chairwoman of the Great Cleveland Golden Age Centers. She was a trustee of the Salvation Army and the Cleveland Hearing and Speech Center. She was married to Richard Bassett, co-founder of Pierre's French Ice Cream, for 10 years before his death in 1975. Bassett is survived by a stepdaughter, Sandy Wagner of Fairfax, Va., nephew, Michael Koblitz of Tenafly, N.J.; and niece, Jan Blum of Atlanta. No services are planned. Brown-Foward Funeral Service of Shaker Heights is handling arrangements.
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Bassett Family Association Database
Abt 1917 - 2002 (~ 85 years)