Leo E. Bashinsky

Leo E. Bashinsky (born May 13, 1892 in Troy, Pike County; died 1974) was an industrialist, investor and civic leader.

Leo was the son of Leopold Max and Elizabeth Burford Bashinsky. He attended Marion Military Institute for one year before transfering to the Peekskill Military Institute in New York, finishing in 1907. He then earned a bachelor's degree in literature at Princeton University. He married Cora Young of New York on June 15, 1916 and had two children, Leo M. and Sloan.

From 1913 to 1920, Bashinsky worked as a cashier at the Farmer's and Merchants National Bank in Troy. He then became a partner in the Bashinsky Case Cotton Company, headquartered in Birmingham. In 1941 he left to become president of Automatic Machine Products, then, in 1946 he purchased Magic City Foods from Helen Friedman and renamed the company Golden Flake, after its popular brand of potato chips.

Bashinsky sold the company to his son, Sloan, in 1956 and retired at the same time from his chairmanship of Alabama Asphaltic Limestone. He also served on the boards of Howard College, Birmingham Baptist Hospital and Southside Baptist Church. He served one term as president of the Birmingham Country Club and was also an active member of the Birmingham Rotary Club and Southside Baptist Church, where he chaired the Board of Deacons.

Bashinsky died in 1974 and is buried at Elmwood Cemetery. The Leo E. Bashinsky Press Tower and Leo E. Bashinsky Fieldhouse at Samford University were named in his honor.

References

• Grove, Frank L., ed (1961) Library of Alabama Lives. Hopkinsville, Kentucky: Historical Record Association.