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- In Memoriam, Bruce E. Bassett, Ph.D.
Bruce Edward Bassett PhD, founder of Human Underwater Biology, Inc, (HUB) a provider of Continuing Medical Education for physicians, was much beloved.l He was freed from physical suffering and returned to the arms of his Creator after his courageous battle with cancer came to an end on Saturday, May 4, 2002. He left behind his wife and business partner, Anita, sons Hollis, Greg, Steven, and Andrew, brother Jerry, and beyond that numerous family members through marriage, and countless friends and business associates, who knew him, loved him, admired him, and would miss him greatly.
With his passing, HUB has dissolved, as it could not continued to function in the same capacity without Bruce and his guidance.
Global CME Ltd was formed to fill the void, and to continued the unexcelled high quality education offerings to the medical community.
Bruce was a pioneer in the field of Aerospace Medicine and Hyperbaric Medicine. He was responsible for setting up the protocol for hyperbaric chamber use in patient treatment in the USAF. He was the first to conduct manned flying-after-diving studies, still considered the most valid of any studies made to date. In the course of his Air Force career he was assigned to a top secret project (since declassified), during which time he helped to develop the pressure suits used by U-2 pilots. He was a Fellow of the Aerospace Medical Association. In addition, Bruce Bassett was the recipient of numerous commendation awards during his Air Force career, some of which include the Aerospace Medical Association, the Undersea Hyperbaric medicine Society (North American Chapter, of which he served as President), and sport scuba diving associations and training organizations across the United States. His company schooled more physicians on the intricacies of the medical aspects of sport scuba diving than any other education provider in this field.
Aside from faith and family, Bruce’s passion was divided between teaching, diving and underwater photography. He had the unique ability to excite students of all education levels, whether a new junior diver, a knowledgeable dive instructor, university professor, or medical doctor, even a Surgeon General of the Unites States.
But Bruce left so much more than that in the wake of the pervasive wave that his life created in the vast sea of life and all its questions. He left a legacy of greatness upheld by a rare few on God’s planet Earth. It is a legacy worthy of recording to help those who knew him to remember him, and to allow those who were not blessed to know him to recognize the level of spirit and integrity that Bruce possessed, which served as the foundation upon which his company was built and prospered until the demise of its creator.
South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 10 May 2002
Lt. Col. Bruce Bassett, Inventor
Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Bruce E. Bassett, who helped design the pressure suit used by pilots of two of the nation's best known spy planes, died at home on Saturday of lung cancer. He was 66. Lt. Col. Bassett spent most of his military career at Brooks Air Force Base in San Antonio, where he helped establish the Hyberbaric Medicine Division of the USAF School of Aerospace Medicine. Lt. Col. Bassett, a native of San Francisco, also was instrumental in developing a system of hypberbaric chambers for the Air Force around the world. His most challenging assignment, which he could not discuss for many years because of secrecy laws, was at Groom Dry Lake in Nevada, where he arrived in 1966. Also known as Dreamland and Area 51, the secret government installation is located about 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. For about six years, Lt. Col. Bassett worked as chief of life support for the high-flying U-2 and SR-71 Blackbird surveillance planes. His job, which he called the pinnacle of his career, was to help in the design of the pilot ejection and life support systems. Because the planes flew at extremely high altitudes, the pilot had to wear a full pressure suit to survive ejection or rapid decompression. The pressure suit he developed is on exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in Washington. Lt. Col. Bassett earned a doctorate in physiology from the University of Southern California. While still in the Air Force, he and his wife, Anita, founded Human Underwater Biology Inc., or HUB, in San Antonio. The company specializes in providing medical professionals with continuing medical education courses at exotic dive destinations. He is also survived by four sons, Hollis Edward, of Dallas, Greg Bassett of Basking Ridge, N.J., Steven Bassett, of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Andrew Bassett, of Flemington, N.J.; one grandchild; and a brother, Dr. Jerry Bassett, of Coquille, Ore.
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Bassett Family Association Database
1935 - 2002 (66 years)