Henry Sherman “Hank” Basayne, who wrote “On the Plus Side,” a sensitive, wise and insightful column on aging for the Marina Times, died at his San Francisco home on Apr. 11. He had been battling cancer.

He was surrounded by his family according to his daughter, Lisa Francesca, who said her father had just turned 84 before he died.

Mr. Basayne had a fascinating career – many careers, actually – beginning as a graduate from the High School of Music and Art in his native Manhattan. He worked as a “bag boy” for the legendary Edward R. Murrow at WCBS Radio in New York. Later, he was the program director at KCBS Radio in San Francisco. As an executive producer at WCCO, the CBS radio affiliate in Minneapolis, Mr. Basayne won a Peabody Award. He produced 50 television shows for Westinghouse Theater during the 1950s.

Mr. Basayne made San Francisco his home in the 1960s, teaching broadcasting and creative arts at S.F. State University. Insatiably curious and energetic, he came up with the design for the famous cafe, The Coffee Cantata on Union Street, that was used as a backdrop in major TV shows and movies, including the 1968 car-chase legend, Bullitt. He expanded the operation into the Cantata Deli, and was one of the first presidents of the Union Street Merchants Association.

Mr. Basayne was a Humanist minister, and served as associate executive director of the Association for Humanistic Psychology, and as executive director of the Humanistic Psychology Institute, now the Saybrook Institute.

His work involved performing more than 1,000 weddings over the years.

“He loved to do weddings,” recalled his daughter Lisa, who followed her father into the same work. “He trained me in 2001.” Mr. Basayne also presided over memorials and “baby-welcoming” ceremonies.

He had a company, Education Events Coordinators, which arranged for speakers from around the world to address the notion of human potential. He authored innumerable papers on myriad topics. Even into his 80s, Mr. Basayne moved at 100 miles an hour. Late in life, he was executive director of the Mental Health Association of California.

Mr. Basayne was the co-author of Weddings: The Magic of Creating Your Own Ceremony (with Linda Janowitz). His monthly “On the Plus Side” column also appeared in the Westside Observer and The New Fillmore.

In an October 2009 column, titled “What I know for sure,” Mr. Basayne mused:

“I’ve never been much good at farewells. Endings, exits and goodbyes make me sorrowful. That sad clown Pagliaccio said we appear on the stage without asking, and we take leave without wanting to go. But it’s the exits of the other players that wrench the heart – all the laughter that won’t now be shared, the hugs that will stay unhugged, the mutual understandings that are broken now. ... I started this column talking about what I didn’t know for sure, but I’m pretty sure about two things: We need each other. We ought to stop putting off important things.”

Mr. Basayne is survived by his three children, Adela Basayne of Portland, Ore., Michael Basayne of Napa, and Lisa Francesca of Campbell; and five grandchildren, Megan, Ryan, Gabriel, Peggy, and Andrew.

A memorial will be held on July 10 for friends and family.

Donations are suggested in his name to Sutter NVA and Hospice, and/or the Palliative Care Fund of the S.F. Jewish Family and Children’s Services.
           
“Just before my father died,” said Lisa, “he asked for three things. He wanted his cat near him, he wanted his iPhone, and he wanted the latest issue of The New Yorker.”