Tarrytown Trustee Inducted into WC Senior Hall of Fame

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December 30, 2015

by Rick Pezzullo

Giving back to the community has always been a big part of Tom Basher’s life. It’s just something that was engrained in him at an early age from his parents.

“They say you’re a product of your upbringing, and I guess I was,” Basher said. “It was just part of your nature growing up. I was raised in a family that gave back to the community.”

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Thomas Basher Basher, who has been on the Tarrytown Village Board of Trustees for 24 years and serves as deputy mayor, followed his parents footsteps into local government. His father, William, was a trustee for 17 years and a baseball field at Losee Park is named after him. His mother, Emily, was a trustee for four years.

But being a trustee for nearly a quarter of a century is only the tip of the iceberg of the contributions Basher has made to the village he has called home for most of his life. He was a member of the Tarrytown Dad’s Club (now TNT Baseball) for 20 years. He has supported the Rotary Club for 10 years, been an active participant in the Community Opportunity Center and volunteered at Transfiguration School, Young Men’s Lyceum, Fraternal Order of Eagles, Knights of Columbus, the Tarrytown Fire Department, and Kiwanis Club of the Tarrytowns.

“Most of the time when you volunteer I would say your work is not recognized publicly, and that’s fine,” Basher said.

That all changed on December 4 when Basher was one of 34 individuals from 18 municipalities that were inducted into the Westchester Senior Citizens Hall of Fame during a luncheon at the Westchester Marriott Hotel in Tarrytown.

Basher, 65, was one of four inductees who received Special Recognition from Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino. The crowd of more than 450 included Tarrytown Mayor Drew Fixell, fellow trustees Doug Zollo, Becky McGovern and Robert Hoyt and several family and friends.

“It was quite an honor. I have to rank this as number one,” Basher said of the achievement. “It was a great feeling; a very rewarding feeling. It means all the years that I volunteered for so many things somebody took notice of it.”

Astorino noted more than 1,100 seniors have been inducted into the county’s Senior Hall of Fame since it began in 1983 as a way to showcase how senior citizens have made contributions to their communities.

“The Senior Hall of Fame is a Westchester tradition that recognizes seniors who have generously given their time and talent to improve their home communities and the county at large,” Astorino said. “Their leadership has enhanced our quality of life, and we are fortunate to call them our friends and neighbors.”

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