Feb 12, 2019 1:08 PMJoel Bass, who resided in Southampton for more than 20 years, and in the Hamptons for more than 30 years, died on February 5, 2019, surrounded by his family, of stage 4 neuroendocrine tumor cancer. He was 76.
Born in Los Angeles on December 23, 1942, to Ethel and Herbert Bass, Mr. Bass attended the Art Center College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Tours France, and the University of Southern California School of Business. A lifelong accomplished artist, he was awarded the National Endowment for the Arts on two occasions, in 1979 and 1987. His artwork is a part of the permanent collections at the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of Art, in New York; National Museum of Art, Washington, D.C.; San Francisco Museum of Art, the San Diego Museum of Art, Berkeley Museum of Art, the Oakland Museum of Art, Otis College of Art and Design, in California; the Fort Worth Art Center, in Texas; the Des Moines Art Center, in Iowa; and the Greenville Center for Art, in North Carolina.
He shared his love of art with his many students as a professor during the 1970s and 1980s at the University of California at Irvine and the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles.
During the three decades he spent in the Hamptons, he continued to explore his passion for art when he founded Joel Bass Construction and began designing and building homes in the Hamptons and Manhattan. His unique aesthetic and unwavering attention to detail were evident in his many projects over the past 30 years.
Mr. Bass met his the woman who would become his wife, Lisa Kenny Bass—an artist in her own right, and who was project manager with Joel Bass Construction and real estate agent at Saunders & Associates—more than 22 years ago. They are the parents of Max, 18, who will be entering Pitzer College in California as a member of the water polo team, and Theo, a student at the Eaglebrook School in Massachusetts and also a water polo enthusiast. Survivors said his greatest life joy was spending time with his sons and family.
In addition to his wife and children, Mr. Bass is survived by his sister, Ana Cheryl Bass Herbekian of California—also an artist and painter.
A memorial will be held this summer. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of the Brockett Funeral Home in Southampton.
Memorial donations may be made to East End Hospice, eeh.org.
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