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- The Sun, Baltimore, Maryland
August 24, 2003
Eleanor Scott Goldbloom Bassett, 94, doctor, women's rights advocate
Eleanor Scott Goldbloom Bassett, a longtime Baltimore physician and advocate of women's health issues and rights, died Monday at an assisted-living home in Pittsburgh of a heart attack. She was 94. Dr. Scott, as she was known professionally throughout her more than three decades of practice as an obstetrician and gynecologist, was born in Philadelpha. At the age of 5, she knew she wanted to be a doctor, said her daughter, Ellen G. Kight of Pittsburgh. She said her mother would often choose that role rather than a nurse in childhood role plays. By the time her mother was 10, she was sketching the human anatomy, showing a "flabbergasted" surgeon about to perform an appendectomy on her a picture of an appendix and describing to him in full detail the procedure he was about to do. She received a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Wisconsin in 1931. She started medical school at Wisconsn before finishing at Cornell University, where she was one of four women in her medical school class, her daughter said. She received her medical degree in 1935. She loved to travel and had a deep appreciation for the fine arts. She took a year off from school to live in Austria and study modern dance, while also traveling throughout Europe and studying the arts. While she was at Cornell, she interned with Margaret Sanger, founder of the International Planned Parenthood Foundation. Dr. Scott married Herbert Goldbloom in 1944 and they moved to Baltimore that year. She worked at several local hospitals over 33 years; Johns Hopkins, the Greater Baltimore Medical Center, Franklin Square, Church Home and Hospital, Sinai and Union Memorial. "The war gave her the extra advantage to get onto the staffs at several Baltimore hospitals because most of the men were away at war," her daughter said. "She was a real pioneer for women's rights." In the 1950s and 1960s, Dr. Scott served as a police physician who examined rape victims. It was also during this time that she established herself as a pioneer in women's reproductive rights. "She could not prefer abortions, she preferred contraceptives, but if worse came to worse, she believed that a woman should have the right to choose," said son Donald Goldbloom of Grantsville. Dr. Scott spoke at local middle and high schools about sex education. Also during the 1960s, Dr. Scott was the chief of obstetrics at the former Church Home and Hospital. Dr. Scott retired to Sanibel Island, Florida, in 1978. Three years later, Herbert Goldbloom died. In 1988, she moved to Fort Myers, Florida, and in the early 1990s, she co-founded the Fort Myers Planned Parenthood chapter. "She was concerned about shootings and bombings. She was concerned about her family. That never stopped her," said the daughter. Donald Goldbloom said his mother was a phenomenal fund-raiser. "She worked her Rolodex of friends and raised more than $10,000 for starting that chapter," he said. "It was a lesson in fund raising for all of us." In 1992, a long-lost love reappeared in Dr. Scott's life - Richard Bassett, a Harvard graduate and former art director at the Milton Academy near Boston who had had a whirlwind Philadelphia-to-Europe romance with her in the 1930s. She broke off the relationship to finish medical school. They had corresponded over the years, and in 1992 Dr. Scott traveled to Boston, where they were reunited. Mr. Bassett was 92 years old and Dr. Scott was 83. They were married that year. "It was like a teen-age romance all over again," Donald Goldbloom said. Mr. Bassett died in 1995. A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. September 6 at Druid Ridge Cemetery, 7900 Park Heights Avenue. In addition to Dr. Scott's daughter and son, survivors include a sister, Henrietta Gay of Gwynedd, Pennsylvania; a stepson, Jay Goldbloom of Washington; and four grandchildren.
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
August 20, 2003
Doctor was medical pioneer, political activist
Eleanor S. Bassett
by Jerry Vondas
Prior to World War II, Eleanor Bassett was a pioneer - one of the few women to graduate from a medical school and practice obstetrics and gynecology.
"When my mother graduated from Cornell Medical School in 1935, she was only one of four women in her class," said her daughter, Ellen Kight. "The obstetric/gynecology field at that time was dominated by males."
Dr. Eleanor S. Bassett, of Canterbury Place, in Pittsburgh's Lawrenceville section died on Monday, August 18, 2003. She was 94.
"Unfortunately, it took World War II to give women physicians like my mother the opportunity to join the staffs of many of the major hospitals, since the male doctors were recruited to serve the armed forces in the United States and on the battlefields of Europe and the Pacific," Kight said.
During the early days of the war, Dr. Bassett was assigned to the Women's Hospital in New York City, prior to marrying Herbert Goldbloom, who owned a clothing store in Baltimore.
"Mom and Dad were married in 1944 and she returned to Baltimore with Dad."
While in Baltimore, she was a member of the medical staff and also taught at Johns Hopkins and later joined the medical staff of Church Home Hospital in Baltimore as the chief of obstetrics/gynecology.
"I was so proud of my mother," Kight said. "I was the only student in my class who had a working mother."
Kight said her mother was an adviser to the Baltimore Police Department in helping females who were sexually abused and she gave lessons on sex education in the Baltimore public schools.
"Mom was born and raised in Philadelphia," Kight said. "And although she moved about the eastern United States, she never forgot her roots. When the Philadelphia Orchestra, which was then led by Eugene Ormandy, performed in Baltimore, my parents always attended."
Her father, Samuel Bryan Scott, was a prominent Philadelpha attorney and the majority leader of the Pennsylvania Legislature during Governor Gifford Pinchot's administration (1923-26).
"My mother had the opportunity to attend private schools," Kight said. "She attended Vassar and received her undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin, prior to enrolling in the Cornell University Medical School."
Dr. Bassett continued to work in Baltimore until she and her husband moved to Sanibel Island, Florida, in 1978. In addition to doing a limited amout of medical work there, she became a poltical activist and a delegate to the 1984 Democratic presidential convention.
In the mid-1960's, Kight arrived in Pittsburgh and after graduation from Chatham College began her career with the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. She now serves as regional director of the Pennsylvania Department of Commercial and Economic Development.
"My father died in 1981, and in 1992, Mom married Richard Bassett, an artist she dated before marrying my father. Dick Bassett taught art at Harvard and helped in the restoration of the Capitol building in Harrisburg. Mom was 84 and Dick Bassett was 92. They made their home in Boston before Dick died in 1995.
Dr. Bassett then moved to Pittsburgh to be with her daughter, a resident of Indiana Township, Alleghany County. "Mom learned the computer, which she used to continue her political activities," Kight said. She regularly attended the First Unitarian Church on Morewood Avenue in Pittsburgh's Oakland section.
In addition to her daughter, Dr. Bassett is survived by two sons, Donald S. Goldbloom, of Grantsville, Maryland, and Jay Goldbloom, of Washington D.C.; four grandchildren; and a sister, Henrietta Scott Gay, of Gwenedd, Montgomery County.
She was predeceased by a sister, Sylvia Goetz, and a grandson, Jeffrey Goldbloom.
A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday in the sanctuary of the First Unitarian Church of Pittsburgh. Interment is private. Arrangements by H. Samson, Oakland.
Jerry Vondas can be reached at jvondas@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7823.
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Bassett Family Association Database
Abt 1909 - 2003 (~ 94 years)