Lawyer C.V. Bashara, 80, dies after fall in Norfolk court

NORFOLK

Veteran lawyer Charles V. Bashara, who loved wearing fedoras and proudly telling courthouse staff that he was 80 and still working, collapsed in court Monday and died later that night.

Bashara fell and struck his head against a bench, according to witnesses. But even then, he didn't lose his sense of humor, joking with paramedics as they helped him in Courtroom Two of General District Court, witnesses said.

His son, Charles L. Bashara, said his father suffered a stroke and died at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Virginia, six children and more than 20 grandchildren, his son said.

Friends and colleagues said Bashara loved the law and recently earned recognition from the Virginia State Bar for 50 years of practice.

Born the son of a Lebanese immigrant family in their home on 49th Street in Norfolk, Bashara studied law at the Marshall Wythe School of Law at William and Mary, his son said. He passed the bar exam, joined a Norfolk firm and he eventually started his own practice.

He handled a little bit of everything - criminal and civil cases as well as family wills and estates. He became a fixture in Norfolk courtrooms for five decades, serving hundreds of clients.

Until a few years ago, he also walked to the courthouse from his West Bute Street office, his son said. He regularly handed out cash to men outside the Union Mission.

"These are all good people," he told his son. "They're just down on their luck."

When poor defendants asked for help, he often gave counsel for free.

"Give me your papers, let's see what we can do," his son recalls him telling many.

He also loved to sing. "He was no Dean Martin," his son said, and laughed, "but he loved to perform."

Although the family's real-estate holdings were the more profitable part of their business, his son said, he most enjoyed his courtroom work. He typically arrived at the office at 6 a.m. If his son, also a lawyer, was 10 minutes late, he'd get a call.

"Boy, you sick or what?" he'd ask.

Bashara also hired Peter G. Decker III to work in his law firm as a teenager. Bashara and Decker's father, Peter Decker Jr., rode to law school together, the younger Decker said.

Decker III remembered Bashara fighting vigorously for his clients. Decker eventually went to law school and into general practice.

On Monday, Decker was in court with Bashara, standing beside him when he fell.

"He was a courtroom lawyer," Decker said. "That's the best way to describe him."

Louis Hansen, 757-446-2341, louis.hansen@pilotonline.com