Dr. Leslie Raymond Bassett

Dr. Leslie Raymond Bassett, age 93 of Oakwood, Georgia, passed away on Thursday, February 4, 2016 at his residence.

Memorial services are scheduled for Saturday, February 13, 2016 at 2:00 pm at McEver Road United Methodist Church.  Reverend Rob Bruce will officiate.  The family will receive friends on Saturday, February 13, 2016 from 3 - 5 pm, after the service, at the Church.

Leslie was born January 22, 1923 in Hanford, California to the late Archibald Leslie Bassett and Vera Vesta Starr Bassett.  He was a WW II veteran and retired from a lengthy and distinguished career as a Professor of Music Composition at the University of Michigan.  Leslie was preceded in death by his parents; his son Ralph Earle Bassett; and his brother, Earle Leonard Bassett.

Professor Bassett was the University of Michigan’s Albert A. Stanley Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Music and was the 1984 Henry Russel Lecturer, the University’s highest faculty honor.  He has received the Distinguished Artist Award from the State of Michigan; was named Distinguished Alumnus by his California alma mater, Fresno State, and by the University of Michigan’s School of Music.  He was awarded the major composer award and membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and has twice been the composer-in-residence at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center.  He received the 1966 Pulitzer Prize in Music for his Variations for Orchestra, premiered in Rome in 1963, followed two years later by its United States premier by the Philadelphia Orchestra under conductor Eugene Ormandy.  He was a prolific composer with works widely performed and recorded by orchestras, bands, choirs and various ensembles and soloists throughout the United States and abroad.

Mr. Bassett is survived by his loving wife of 66 years, Anita Denniston Bassett of Oakwood; daughter & son-in-law, Wendy Bratton Baker & R. Richard Baker, III of Gainesville; son & daughter-in-law, Noel Leslie & Elizabeth Johnson Bassett of Orchard Park, New York; grandchildren, Laura Bratton Ammons (Rick) and Kevin Lee Bratton (Amy) and great-grandchildren, Madison & Gracen Ammons and Charlie Bratton.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Leslie Bassett Scholarship Fund for Music Composition Masters students at the University of Michigan, School of Music, Theatre and Dance.  Checks should be sent to:

The Leslie Bassett Scholarship Fund

SMTD Development Office

2005 Baits Drive

Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2035

Memorial Park Funeral Home, 2030 Memorial Park Road, Gainesville, GA  30504 is in charge of arrangements.