15 Facts About Fred Bass

Fred Bass is a former city councillor, environmentalist and a preventive medicine physician in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Fred Bass served on Vancouver City Council from 1999 to 2005.

Fred Bass served as a preventive medicine officer in the US Army's 7th Infantry Division in Korea and Fort Monmouth, New Jersey.

Fred Bass earned a master's degree in epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health and a Doctor of Science at Johns Hopkins, writing a thesis on medical care use attributable to cigarette smoking.

In 1975, Fred Bass began working with the Vancouver health department as a preventive medicine and epidemiology specialist.

In 1989, Fred Bass founded the BC Doctors' Stop-Smoking Program, which educated doctors about ways to help addicted patients quit.

Fred Bass himself had started smoking at age 16, and was a pack-a-day smoker when he quit at age 28.

Fred Bass was first elected to city council in 1999 as a member of COPE, and topped the polls when re-elected in 2002 with 70,525 votes.

Fred Bass's first step was a minimal-cost trial of using one lane in each direction for bicycles, reserving the existing sidewalk for pedestrians.

Fred Bass was not re-elected in the 2005 election, finishing 12th overall with 48,248 votes.

Fred Bass described his anti-smoking work as "practice" for campaigning against global warming.

In May 2012, Fred Bass was one of several protesters arrested in White Rock, BC for blocking a train that was carrying American coal destined for shipment to Asia.

In 2019, Fred Bass began to facilitate public workshops on "eco-resilience", which he describes as the capacity for individuals, households, communities, and ecosystems to respond to the stresses of environmental collapse.

Fred Bass remained connected with Quaker communities thereafter, and in later life became a Quaker.

Fred Bass has four adult children, two with his long-term partner Roma Dehr, and two from a previous marriage.