Ex-city councilman helped mold the city
Philip Baskin's deft touch as a lawyer and councilman transcended party politics and helped mold a city skyline.
"Philip Baskin was one of the great movers and shakers in Pittsburgh," said Duquesne University law professor and former Pittsburgh deputy mayor Joseph Sabino Mistick. "He was a classic Democratic powerbroker who worked effectively on the inside and outside of government."
Philip Baskin, of Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill section, died Sunday, Jan. 2, 2005, in the Southwestern Veterans' Center in the city's Highland Park section. He was 83.
A Pittsburgh city councilman from 1961 to 1965 and one of the city's most prominent lawyers until his retirement 12 years ago, Mr. Baskin had been struggling with Alzheimer's since being diagnosed with the disease in 1991, said his wife, Phyllis Baskin.
"What he did, he did to the fullest," said his wife of 25 years. "He came from nothing, and he pulled himself up."
Former Mayor Sophie Masloff remembered Mr. Baskin as a "great lawyer and a remarkable man."
During 40 years in practice, Mr. Baskin argued before the U.S. Supreme Court and handled a wide range of cases that helped shape Pittsburgh, including the development of PPG Place and an expansion of UPMC Presbyterian hospital in the city's Oakland section. He also represented Warner Cable Corp. as it secured the franchise for the city's cable system.
"It was the first cable company that had a franchise in a major city," Masloff said. "We worked closely. I had a high regard for him."
Mr. Baskin was born July 30, 1921, in Meadowlands, Washington County, to Samuel and Sadie (Tieger) Baskin. After his father died, Mr. Baskin and his brothers moved to Erie and he graduated from Fairview High School in Erie County in 1938.
After graduating in 1942 from the University of Pittsburgh, Mr. Baskin served as a lead navigator in the 8th Air Force, Second Air Division, 448th Bomb Group based in Norwich, England. He served in 31 combat missions and earned the Distinguished Flying Cross
Mr. Baskin returned home after the war to serve a one-year stint as a reporter for the Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph before entering Harvard Law School, where he earned his degree in 1949. Mr. Baskin served with Sachs and Caplan before forming his own firm in 1954.
Mr. Baskin soon became recognized for his skill in handling municipal law, serving as an assistant solicitor in the county law department from 1953 through 1958, then as special counsel for the department from 1958 through 1960. During that time, he helped establish the county health department and worked on cases involving the property assessment board, county transit authority and Greater Pittsburgh International Airport.
"He was involved in major decisions of several decades in this town," Mistick said. "He represented (as an attorney) major developers in this town and other major players. And he was a great teacher. He trained many fine lawyers."
Mr. Baskin also was heavily involved in the community: He served on the board of the Auditorium Authority (Civic Arena) from 1962 through 1975 and was a member of such organizations as the Pittsburgh Zoological Society, the Civic Light Opera Association, the Carnegie Library and the American Wind Symphony.
Shoshana Nudel, one of Mr. Baskin's daughters, said her father was instrumental in helping start the Yeshiva Schools and the Kollel Bais, the Jewish learning center, both in Squirrel Hill.
"My father was a man with a very generous, loving heart," Ms. Nudel said. "He had compassion for everyone."
Mr. Baskin is survived his wife; daughters Shoshana Nudel, , and Janice Gondelman and her husband, Gary, of Potomac, Md.; stepdaughters Susan Povich Gorham and her husband, Ralph, of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Amy Povich Agus and her husband, David, of Beverly Hills, Calif.; and brother Seymour Baskin, of Carefree, Ariz; and five grandchildren.
Services will be conducted at 1 p.m. today at Temple Sinai, 5505 Forbes Ave., Squirrel Hill. Visitation will be one hour prior to the services and interment at Temple Sinai Memorial Park.
Contributions may be made to the Greater Pittsburgh chapter of the Alzheimer's Association, 100 W. Station Square Drive, Suite 500, Pittsburgh, PA 15219, or Temple Sinai, 5505 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15217. Arrangements by Ralph Schugar Chapel Inc., Shadyside.
