Leo E. Bashinsky

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Leo Bashinsky

Leo E. Bashinsky (born May 13, 1892 in Troy, Pike County; died July 2, 1974 in Birmingham) was an industrialist, investor and civic leader.

Leo was the son of Prussian immigrant Leopold Max Bashinsky and his wife, the former Elizabeth Burford. 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 came to Birmingham to beome a partner in the newly-formed Bashinsky Case Cotton Company, headquartered here. In 1941 he left that firm to become president of Automatic Machine Products. In 1946 Bashinsky and his brother-in-law Cyrus Case purchased Magic City Foods for $1 million from Helen Friedman. Bashinsky sold the company to his son, Sloan, in 1956 and retired at the same time from his chairmanship of Alabama Asphaltic Limestone.

He served on the board of trustees for Judson College in Marion, and was appointed chair of a special executive committee that recommended that the school merge with Howard College in Birmingham. Though the merger was never completed, that committee selected the Shades Valley site that became the new home of what is now Samford University. Bashinsky was later made a trustee of Samford. He also served on the boards of the Birmingham Baptist Hospital and Southside Baptist Church.

Bashinsky 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 July 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.
  • "Funeral for Leo Bashinsky, 82, retired businessman, is Friday." (July 4, 1974), Birmingham Post-Herald, p. D2
  • Sulzby, James F. (1986) Toward a History of Samford University. 2 volumes. Birmingham: Samford University Press.


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