Harry Wesley Bass Jr. (January 6, 1927 – April 4, 1998), was an American businessman, coin collector, and philanthropist. He was active in the

Texas Republican Party The Republican Party of Texas (RPT) is the Texas affiliate of the Republican Party in the United States. It is currently chaired by Abraham George, who succeeded Matt Rinaldi in 2024. The party is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and is legall ...

during the late 1950s when the state was still dominated by the Democratic Party. In 1970, Bass and his brother

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'st ...

inherited the Goliad Oil and Gas Corporation. Bass invested in

ski resort A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area–a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In North Am ...

s in

Aspen Aspen is a common name for certain tree species in the Populus sect. Populus, of the ''Populus'' (poplar) genus. Species These species are called aspens: * ''Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (China, south of ''P. tremula'') * ''Populus da ...

and

Vail Vail is a home rule municipality in Eagle County, Colorado, United States. The population of the town was 4,835 in 2020. Home to Vail Ski Resort, the largest ski mountain in Colorado, the town is known for its hotels, dining, and for the nume ...

, Colorado. He was the main developer of the

Beaver Creek Resort Beaver Creek Resort is an alpine ski resort in the western United States, near Avon, Colorado. The resort comprises three villages, the main Beaver Creek Village, Bachelor Gulch, and Arrowhead to the west. The resort is owned and operated ...

in Beaver Creek. He also amassed one of the world's great coin collections and served as the president of the

American Numismatic Society The American Numismatic Society (ANS) is a New York City-based organization dedicated to the study of coins, money, medals, tokens, and related objects. Founded in 1858, it is the only American museum devoted exclusively to their preservation ...

Early life

Bass was born in

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

, Oklahoma. His father, Harry W. Bass Sr., was a co-founder of the Goliad Corporation and the Goliad Oil and Gas Corporation in Duncanville, near

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, Texas. He had a brother,

Richard Bass Richard Daniel Bass (December 21, 1929 – July 26, 2015) was an American businessman, rancher and mountaineer. He was the owner of Snowbird Ski Resort in Utah and the first man to climb the "Seven Summits", the tallest mountain on each continen ...

. Bass was educated at the

St. Mark's School of Texas The St. Mark's School of Texas is a private, nonsectarian, college-preparatory day school in Dallas, Texas. Established in 1906, St. Mark's educates roughly 900 boys in grades 1-12. St. Mark's is one of the wealthiest day schools in the United ...

, then known as the Texas Country Day School. He attended

Southern Methodist University Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a Private university, private research university in Dallas, Texas, United States, with a satellite campus in Taos County, New Mexico. SMU was founded on April 17, 1911, by the Methodist Episcopal Church, ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he served in the

South Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

with the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

Career

Bass started his career in

Calgary, Alberta Calgary () is a major city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a Metropolitan area, metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the List of ...

, Canada for his father's oil and gas companies. Bass launched a voter data-collection company and served as the finance chairman of the Republican Party of Dallas County in the late 1950s. The company proved to be a financial failure. He was elected chairman of the Dallas County GOP in 1957, but resigned later that year. By 1960, alongside Republican

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

Bruce Alger Bruce Reynolds Alger (June 12, 1918 – April 13, 2015) was an American politician, real estate agent and developer, and a Republican U.S. representative from Texas, the first to have represented a Dallas district since Reconstruction. He serve ...

Texas's 5th congressional district Texas's 5th congressional district of the United States House of Representatives is in an area that includes a northeast portion of Dallas County, Texas, Dallas County, including Mesquite, Texas, Mesquite plus a number of smaller suburban, exu ...

, he staged a demonstration against Democratic

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

(later President)

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...

when the latter visited Dallas. He was a delegate to the

1964 Republican National Convention The 1964 Republican National Convention took place in the Cow Palace, Daly City, California, from July 13 to July 16, 1964. Before 1964, there had been only one national Republican convention on the West Coast, the 1956 Republican National Convent ...

. Bass co-owned H. W. Bass and Sons, a private company headquartered in Dallas. He also invested in the development of ski resorts in Aspen, Colorado, in 1955. Later, he owned 7 percent of the Aspen Ski Corporation with his brother. He invested in the development of Vail and became majority shareholder of Vail Associates, Inc., with 57 percent in 1978. He served as its chairman by 1979. He expanded his holdings to include Beaver Creek Resort.

Numismatics and philanthropy

Bass began collecting coins in the middle 1960s. He regularly attended coin auctions. By 1976, he had invested "millions of dollars" in coins. He added that he had 25 per cent of my portfolio in coins," mostly of which were

gold coin A gold coin is a coin that is made mostly or entirely of gold. Most gold coins minted since 1800 are 90–92% gold (22fineness#Karat, karat), while most of today's gold bullion coins are pure gold, such as the Britannia (coin), Britannia, Canad ...

s from the 19th century to 1933. They were held in a trust. He became a member of the

in 1966. By 1979, he was its president. Bass founded the Harry W. Bass Jr. Research Foundation in 1991. One of its goals was to support numismatics. A$40 million gift from the foundation to

The University of Texas at Dallas The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD or UT Dallas) is a public research university in Richardson, Texas, United States. It is the northernmost institution of the University of Texas System. It was initially founded in 1961 as a private resea ...

was announced by the university on May 9, 2023. It was also announced that the Harry W. Bass Jr. School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology would be renamed in his honor.

Personal life

Bass married Mary Mathewson in 1947. He later married Doris Wampler Calhoun.

Death and legacy

Bass died on April 4, 1998, in Dallas and is interred at the

Sparkman-Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery Sparkman-Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery is a multi-faith cemetery located at 7405 West Northwest Highway in North Dallas, Texas, United States. It is owned by Service Corporation International. Among the notable persons interred here are: * Mar ...

. Shortly after his death, the Harry W. Bass Jr. Research Foundation was merged with his late father's philanthropic foundation, the Harry Bass Foundation, to form the Harry W. Bass Jr. Foundation. The endowment comes from oil investments as well as the proceeds from auctions of his coin collection. For example, thirty coins from his collection were auctioned in 2014 in Dallas.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bass, Harry W. Jr. 1927 births 1998 deaths Businesspeople from Oklahoma City Businesspeople from Dallas People from Aspen, Colorado People from Eagle County, Colorado Southern Methodist University alumni United States Navy personnel of World War II American businesspeople in the oil industry Philanthropists from Texas Texas Republicans Burials at Sparkman-Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery St. Mark's School (Texas) alumni 20th-century American philanthropists 20th-century American businesspeople American expatriates in Canada