Source: LOHAS Weekly Newsletter
Published: Wednesday, November 01, 2000

NEW YORK—Longtime industry attorney Milton Bass died Oct. 9 at age 79 in a car accident in Connecticut. According to Robert Ullman, Bass’s former partner in their New York-based law firm Bass & Ullman PC, Bass was a moving factor in bringing the industry to where it is today.

Bass had litigated in many of the industry’s major battles. In the 1960s, he fought FDA attempts to control dietary supplements’ potencies, ingredients and availability, while in the 1970s, he won a case that allowed health food stores to sell books. Bass & Ullman served as legal counsel for the National Nutritional Foods Association (NNFA) for many years, and this past summer, Bass accepted NNFA’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

Bass & Ullman PC was dissolved in February 1999, but Bass continued to practice in an “of counsel” capacity.

“He was willing to represent the industry when it wasn’t so fashionable—there were many times when we stood alone against regulators to give this industry the stature it has today,” Ullman says.

Bass was respected by his peers and by the regulatory agencies he was compelled to take on—even at age 79, Ullman says, adding that his untimely death is a real loss to the industry.

“He loved the law,” Ullman says. “He strove for intellectual honesty. I admired his incisiveness, his ability to get to the root of a problem and to intellectually question the issues. I also immensely respected his ability as a litigator.”

A memorial service was held for Bass Oct. 11 at the Riverside Chapel in New York. Donations on his behalf can be made to a memorial fund with the New York Metropolitan Opera Association. For further information, contact 212.870.7388.