John Basic to be Remembered

U.S. Navy World War II veteran and Marco Island resident John Basic, who passed away at age 99 on August 18, 2023, will be laid to rest on Saturday, February 3, at San Marco Catholic Church.

Basic grew up on Chicago’s South Side during the height of the great depression and became “the man of the house” when his father passed away when Basic was 16. After graduating from high school in 1941, he worked full-time at Mack Trucks while attending engineering night classes at the Illinois Institute of Technology under the tutelage of two professors who went on to work on the Manhattan Project to develop the first atomic bomb.

Basic enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1944, his engineering background earning him special training as a radio/radar technician. He was ultimately assigned as a radio technician to the USS Sarpedon, one of 12 battle repair ships built by the Navy during WWII to repair US ships damaged largely by kamikaze attacks by Japanese forces.

After the war, Basic finished his studies at the Illinois Institute of Technology under the G.I. bill and went on to have a successful career in engineering, starting his own company in 1969. Basic Environmental Engineering designed and built incinerators that converted industrial, municipal and medical waste to electrical energy, building and licensing more than 125 projects in the U.S. and overseas. 

Basic moved to Marco Island in 1997 with his wife Marijo, who passed away in 1999. He was an active member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion, and in addition to his community service, Basic was known in Marco for his love of live music and dancing. He was a fixture every Sunday at The Sandbar and Stan’s. 

Basic’s storied life of service, adventure and success will be honored with a funeral mass that begins at 10:00 AM at San Marco Catholic Church, followed by an interment of ashes ceremony and celebration of life reception, all open to the public.