Brother Christopher Bassen, FSC, died in San Francisco, California, on July 3 at the age of 63 after a long battle with cancer. He had been a De La Salle Christian Brother for 46 years. Born William Christopher Bassen in Chicago, Illinois, he entered the Novitiate in Napa, California, on June 9, 1960. He received the religious habit on August 14, 1960. He made his perpetual vows on August 15, 1967, at Saint Mary’s College of California.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 1965 from Saint Mary’s College of California and a master’s degree in mathematics from U.C. Berkeley in 1974. Brother Chris served as a teacher, and vice principal at Cathedral High School in Los Angeles, and as principal at both La Salle High School in Pasadena and Saint Mary’s College High School in Berkeley.

In 1994, Brother Chris was one of three Christian Brothers who established the Lasallian Educational Opportunities program at the LEO Center in Oakland, California, a storefront tutoring and learning center for children and adults in North Oakland, of which he was the director until his death. The mission statement of the LEO Center reads, “[Our] programs have as their ultimate goal that the students acquire the skills and attitudes which will liberate the full realization of their human potential, enhance the attainment of their rightful place as full participants in society, and nurture their awareness of the richness of their human dignity and that of others.” The LEO programs have made a difference in the lives of hundreds of residents of Oakland (for more on LEO, visit the web site at http://home.pacbell.net/leocentr/lyhomepage.html.

Brother Chris is survived by his sister Ellen and her husband Jim Hill of Harbor City, California, his niece Jeanellen and her husband Jody Sumruld, his grand niece Autumn Sumruld and his Lasallian family of Brothers and associates.

The funeral Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at St. Columba’s Church in Oakland on July 15. Interment followed later that day at the Christian Brothers’ cemetery at Mont La Salle in Napa, California. Memorial donations may be made to the LEO Center, P.O. Box 3238, Oakland, CA 94609. Notes and testimonials may be sent to District Archives, Mont La Salle, 4405 Redwood Road, Napa CA 94558.