Richard "Dick" Joseph Bastien

Richard Joseph “Dick” Bastien passed at age 84 on July 18, 2017 at Jacksonville Community Hospice, surrounded by family. The son of Louise and Dr. August Bastien, he was born in Flushing, NY on November 25, 1932. Dick graduated from All Hallows HS in the Bronx, NY, and St Bonaventure University with a degree in Mathematics in 1954. After honorable service in the US Army as a First Lt and Field Artillery Unit Commander at Ft Sill, OK, he went on to earn his JD on the GI Bill from Fordham Law School in 1959.  Admitted to the NY Bar Association, he was employed in the oil industry by Aramco and Texaco as a Senior Corporate Attorney, where he further received a degree in Middle Eastern Law at the University of London and a Master of Laws at NYU in 1967. Dick and his family lived in both England and Saudi Arabia in the 1960s and 1970’s where he represented his employers as onsite legal counsel. Dick was hired by New England Petroleum in 1974, where he became President and quickly improved the struggling company’s results. He moved his family to Jacksonville, FL in 1981, when through acquisition by Charter Company he became Executive Vice President and CEO of the company’s energy group until retiring in 1991. Well known for his intellect and commanding presence, Dick’s extensive legal and oil industry experience was of great value to the organizations over which he successfully presided. Personally, he will be remembered for his lifelong passions of tennis, sailing, and woodworking, at which he was always diligently committed to being his best. He earned a pilot’s license in 2005, and took many friends and family for flights along the North Florida coastline. Most importantly Dick will be remembered and cherished by all for his greatest achievements as lovable husband, father, and grandfather. He is survived by his children, Marie-Noel Bastien, Elizabeth Bastien Borsch, Richard J. Bastien, Suzanne C. Bastien, and T. Marshall Bastien; as well as four wonderful grandchildren, Jack, Abigail, Oliver, and Owen. A memorial service will be held at St Mark’s Lutheran Church on Hendricks Ave, Jacksonville, FL on Friday Aug 11, at 3pm ET.