Linda Bassett, who was the long-time senior director of community affairs at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, died in late February. She had suffered from cancer.
Bassett joined the communications and marketing division of Rutgers University in 1989, where she worked to meet the community engagement goals of three Rutgers presidents. Among her projects was The Rutgers Faculty Traveling Seminar tours, which built camaraderie between new faculty members – many of whom were new to the state – while introducing them to the communities where their students were raised. She also established Rutgers Day, an annual celebration of everything Rutgers that is held each spring. The annual opening of Rutgers’ doors to the state is credited with introducing the university’s faculty, staff, students, farm animals, folk music, and myriad academic programs to hundreds of thousands of New Jerseyans.
Bassetts retired in 2017, which she timed to coincide with the culmination of the university’s yearlong 250th-anniversary celebration, which she had planned.
After her retirement, Bassett helped inspire the creation of the first-ever Patient and Family Advisory Council at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, where she served as an advisor from April 2022 until her death.