G. Franco Bassani, a founder of the Italian theoretical condensed matter school, director of the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa from 1995 to 1999 and chairman of the Italian Physical Society from 1999 to 2007, died on 26 September. He was 79. At the Universities of Messina, Pisa, Rome, and at Scuola Normale Superiore, he established internationally recognized groups of condensed matter theory focused on the optical and electronic properties of semiconductors and insulators. Several scientists associated with ICTP were his students -- among them, former Acting Director Erio Tosatti and Staff Scientist Sandro Scandolo.