I’m on Fire island right now, where I first met & shared a house with Doug oh, so many years ago. I’m thinking about you & missing you! Rest In Peace my friend. Grief is the price we pay for love.

From reading other people's more recent memories, it seems Doug didn't change at all from the warm, sensitive, funny, quietly pensive high school student I was privileged to call my friend, to his time as a medical professional in adulthood. Such sad news. We have lost a very caring individual who served his fellow human beings well till the end.

Doug  was one of my best friends when I moved into the neighborhood mid-fifth grade until he left for medical school. We reconnected last year. In high school my two best friends were Doug and Michael P. We would ride our bikes most nights to a small, hidden, and wooden area behind Carvel and McDonalds. There were two areas in the woods, one a little elevated.  We called one the living room and one the bedroom and the whole Our House.  We wrote letters to famous people from our house. We invited Yoko Ono over for dinner.  We wrote to Lance Loud. During that time An American Family was airing on PBS. The first reality TV show. Lance was the gay son. We we were three gay teenagers who never talked about being gay but were drawn to Lance Loud. Whenever the three of us wanted to talk we would meet at our house. Doug looked young for his age. We would take the LIRR to the city and Doug would purchase a child’s ticket. Then we would go to a bar and drink. I especially remember Doug’s kindness. I told my mom about Doug’s death. My 90-year-old mom is recovering from Covid-19 and her husband of 68 years just died of it. She remembers Doug very well. She said “he was just so sweet.” And she is just so right. 

I had the pleasure of working with Doug for the last 2 years at Phoenix House of NY, he served as the Medical Director.  We were so fortunate to have such an incredibly smart, caring, kind, funny leader in addiction medicine.  He cared deeply for the patients we served.  His presence is deeply missed and I will always remember him. My sympathies are extended to his family!

 Doug was medical director of a NIH research study for 5 years at Parallax Center.  I was the principal investigator of the study.  He was a warm, gentle person who was very sensitive and committed to the patients.  I will miss his engaging smile and good sense of humor.   My thoughts  go out to members of his family. 

Dr. Bass was my doctor for medication-assisted therapy at Parallax Center 10 years ago.   He was brilliant, kind, and caring.  He was a huge part of my successful recovery.  I'll always be grateful. I'll never forget him.  

I was crushed to hear about Doug succumbing to COVID-19.  I remember Doug best from elementary school, on the monkey bars, telling secrets in the hidden nooks and crannies around Alice Willits Elementary School.  I remember his smile, his toothy grin, his goofy laugh, his kindness and putting up with my crush on him!  He's someone I've always remembered with fondness.  Rest in peace, Doug.  

Doug and I were great friends at Wesleyan University. We roomed together in NYC one summer and shared some crazy experiences. There was the stay in a Primal Scream Therapist’s office when we were apartment hunting and the fire in the apartment we shared in Little Italy. 
We loved dancing together at Wesleyan and all things Punk Rock and Patty Smith.
I reconnected with him on a visit to NYC and he was just the same as I remembered him. Creative, kind, and funny. We shared so much.
Doug, you will be missed.
Thx for Patty and your friendship-
Julie
 

For over 17 years, being Doug’s partner and a member of his family was one of the greatest joys and most meaningful, loving  times in my life.   Doug was unique in almost all aspects.  He was purely kind, one of the very few people I ever met with this amount of inherent goodness.   His intelligence and natural abilities were stunning, whether it was playing the piano, painting, becoming a doctor with ease or coming up with a prank or joke.  Our travels, our home, our discoveries and friends were largely driven by his imagination, creativity and love.  The grace and support with which he allowed me to move on in my life without him was generous, and it allowed us to grown in our separate lives with continuing support and love.  My husband, John, loved Doug very much, and they made great dance partners more than once.   Doug was goofy, brilliant, caring and brave, and sometimes frustrating in the most charming ways.   He will be remembered by me through the many stories I tell and retell of his antics, and the impact he had on me and so many others.  God bless him and his family, especially his mom, who was my mom for so many years and by far his biggest fan and who he loved more deeply than even she could imagine.   Rest In Peace, you silly man!

Doug was one of the most gentle and kind men i ever had the privilege to meet.  We became friends in the early 1980’s, during his long and loving relationship with my friend Gene Chollett.  We became neighbors on W 16th street in NYC, and for many years he and Gene were some of my closest friends.  Special memories include him and Gene hosting an engagement part for my fiancé and I in 1990 - an elegant and joy-filled evening i will never forget.  And there were the small moments, like when he held my children’s hands as they walked Gene and Doug’s dog.  A huge thrill for my kids, and something they looked forward to again and again.  Doug was family for us.  We love him and will miss him always.

OBITUARY

Douglas H Bass MD

January 31, 1956 – March 29, 2020

Riverside Memorial Chapel

Show your support

Add a Memory

Share Obituary

Get Reminders

Services