In Remembrance: Gary Steven Basket '63 Died on April 6 2025

Gary Steven Basek, a longtime United States Foreign Service Officer, passed away on

April 6th in Bethesda, Maryland. He was 84.

Mr. Basek brought a love of film and a strong sense of fairness to every country in

which he was stationed. He joined the Foreign Service with a first assignment in

Madagascar (now Malagasy Republic), followed by 25 years of work in Vietnam,

Brussels (NATO), Stockholm, Bern/Geneva and Montreal, with the latter three

assignments principally in Consular Services. Following retirement in 1993, Mr. Basek

continued for another 10 years, backstopping embassies and consulates in China,

Riga, Senegal and, most often, in the Czech Republic. Mr. Basek was fluent in French,

Czech, German, all of which he put to good use throughout his career.

Mr. Basek was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia to Vladimir O. Basek and Tilda (Schick)

Basek and grew up in Prague, London and Poughkeepsie, NY. Upon graduation from

Yale University in 1963, including a gap year at the Sorbonne, Mr. Basek served as an

Officer in the US Army Transportation Corps until 1965. Following completion of a

Masters degree in Political Science at Brooklyn College/CCNY, Mr. Basek entered the

US Government with the Civil Service Commission.

Mr. Basek was a cinephile of the first order and brought his love of film wherever he

was stationed. At his assignment in Madagascar, he organized the first ever

Madagascar Film Festival with the assistance from the USIA. Mr. Basek repeated this

success in subsequent postings, supporting the Montreal Film Festival and assisting

with the organization of several festivals in Prague after the drab years of communism.

Mr. Basek also had a generous heart, exemplified by his time in Saigon in the early

1970’s. Over the course of his assignment, he housed more than two dozen

Vietnamese orphans, each of whom he assisted in placing in new homes around the

world. Many of them stayed in touch with Mr. Basek well into their adulthood.

Friends and family remember Mr. Basek as a good man with a deep intellect, a lively

sense of humor, and deep loyalty to his family. He is survived by his sister Miriam

Worthing (Basek) of Rockville, MD and his brother John Basek of Memphis, TN.