ROBERT BRINSON BASS

1941-2018

On February 11, 2018, Robert Brinson Bass, 76, died at UTMB’s Jennie Sealy Hospital in Galveston, Texas. He was born in Houston in 1941, the first child of Walter B. Bass and Vesta B. (“Becky”) Bass.

He was preceded in death by his parents and by his younger brother Thomas P. Bass. He is survived by his partner (and spouse), James E. Bagg, Jr., and by Tommy’s 3 children: DeLynn McKown, Darin Bass, and Jeffery Bass. Also in mourning is Huxley, the household cat in Galveston.

Bob grew up in the Heights and was a 1959 graduate of Reagan High School. His undergraduate education began at UT Austin and concluded with a degree from the University of St. Thomas. He then attended graduate school at Tufts University (Medford, Mass.) and at UT Austin. It was at Tufts that Bob met Jim on the staircase of the graduate dormitory, and there began a 52-year relationship. On the 50th anniversary of that meeting (in Sept. 2015), they married, courtesy of the United States Supreme Court.

Bob’s life, unfortunately, was never easy. Born both gay and highly intelligent, into a family of Protestant fundamentalists of the lowest caliber, he struggled to express himself and did an effective job of it—although at considerable cost. When Bob “came out” to his parents, they referred him to the congregation’s “youth minister,” who told Bob in confidence that he himself was gay. This was a rare stroke of luck, and the fellow was actually helpful. But the head preacher delivered annual sermons against evolution (Bob was already a student of Darwin) and against the celebration of Christmas (an illegitimate holiday because it is not mentioned in the Bible). After listening to many of those anti-evolution diatribes, Bob told the preacher—on his way out the front door—that he was never coming back. Bob was about 13 years of age at the time and already had begun to think for himself.

The Basses, despite their religion, were good and kind people who treated Jim as a family member and who were supportive of the relationship, for they had come to understand that it was important to Bob.

Because Bob was not religious, he would want no funeral service. He has been cremated, and upon Jim’s death their ashes will be inurned in a columbarium not yet chosen.