Perry Richardson Bass

American billionaire, philanthropist and patriarch to the Bass Brothers of Fort Worth
Nancy Lee Muse
​
(m. 1941)​
ChildrenSid Bass
Lee Bass
Ed Bass
Robert BassRelativesSid W. Richardson (uncle)
Hyatt Bass (granddaughter)

Perry Richardson Bass (November 11, 1914 – June 1, 2006) was an American heir, investor, philanthropist and sailor.

Early life

Perry Richardson Bass was born on November 11, 1914, in Wichita Falls, Texas to oil operator Dr. E. Perry Bass[1] and Anne Richardson Bass.[2][3][4] He was educated at The Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania.[2] He graduated from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut with a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology in 1937.[2][3]

Career

He worked for his uncle, Sid W. Richardson, a rancher and oil wildcatter, in the 1940s and 1950s.[5] Upon his uncle's death, he inherited his oil and ranching interests, worth several million dollars.[2]

Philanthropy

As a result of good investments, Bass was worth US$1 billion by 2005 and was the 746th-wealthiest American citizen.[5] He became a philanthropist. He funded the Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth, Texas.[4] In 1991, he donated US$1 million to 50 institutions.[3] The Perry R. Bass Marine Fisheries Research Center in Palacios, Texas is named in his honor.[6]

With his wife, he has donated art to the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth.[4] The collection includes Street in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer and Enclosed Field with Plowman by Vincent van Gogh as well as Fruit Dish, Bottle, and Guitar by Pablo Picasso.[4] It also includes paintings by Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Édouard Vuillard, Pierre Bonnard, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, Fernand Léger, Marc Chagall and Mark Rothko as well as sculptures by Auguste Rodin, Aristide Maillol and Simon Segal.[4]

He was a leading syndicate member of the unsuccessful 1974 America’s Cup defender candidate, Mariner, helmed by Ted Turner.[7]

The Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Center for Molecular and Structural Biology is named after Bass and his wife, and was completed in 1993.[8]

Sailor

Perry built his own wooden Snipe sailboat; in 1935, while studying at Yale, he won the Snipe class world sailing championship.[9][10] A one-time Vice Commodore of the Houston Yacht Club and a proud longtime member of the Del Rey Yacht Club,[11] he was honorary navigator for Ted Turner's "American Eagle" when it won the Southern Ocean Racing Circuit and the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race in 1972.[12]

Personal life

He married Nancy Lee Muse in 1941.[4][5] They had four sons, all notable businessmen and philanthropists, and all billionaires: Sid Bass (born 1942),[4] Ed Bass (born 1945),[4] Robert Bass (born 1948)[4] and Lee Bass (born 1956)[4]

Death

He died on June 1, 2006, in Fort Worth, Texas.[2]

References

  1. ^ Bass, E. Perry (March 29, 1933). "Death of Dr. E.P. Bass". Wichita Falls Times. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e Leslie Wayne, Perry R. Bass, 91, Patriarch of Famed Texas Oil Family, Dies, The New York Times, June 2, 2006
  3. ^ a b c Perry Bass, 91; Texas Oil Heir Invested Well and Gave Generously, The Los Angeles Times, June 02, 2006
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Kimbell Art Museum: The Collection of Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass
  5. ^ a b c Perry Richardson Bass, billionaire philanthropist, The Houston Chronicle, June 2, 2006
  6. ^ Texas Parks & Wildlife Commission: Perry R. Bass Marine Fisheries Research Center
  7. ^ Roger Vaughan, The Grand Gesture (1975), page 137.
  8. ^ "Yale University Science Building Wins Architecture Award". Yale University Press. 21 Jan 1997. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
  9. ^ AP, Bass Family Story a Texas Legend, The Victoria Advocate, November 26, 1984
  10. ^ Rob Patterson, Perry Richardson Bass: Wildcatter with a Giving Nature, SHALE Oil & Gas Business Magazine, January 27, 2015
  11. ^ "DRYC - del Rey Yacht Club".
  12. ^ Leslie Wayne, Perry R. Bass, 91, Patriarch of Famed Texas Oil Family, Dies, The New York Times, June 2, 2006
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