News Story
By Mark Zaborney
Blade staff writer
Jack Casey, a former Toledo Times and Detroit Free Press reporter turned southeast Michigan public relations executive, whose take on politics and public opinion received a wide audience via regular guest spots on radio and television, died Oct. 5 in his Rancho Mirage, Calif., home. He was 93.
He had heart disease, said his wife, Mary Lou Butcher, with whom he shared a communications consulting business in retirement.
Mr. Casey, of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., retired about 1990 after selling his firm, Casey Communications Management. Since then, he and his wife have spent winters at a second home in California.
He began in communications and political strategy in 1966, after several years as an assistant to then-Detroit Mayor Jerome P. Cavanagh.
Mr. Casey counted among his clients the late Carl Levin, from his successful campaigns for Detroit Common Council to U.S. senator; former U.S. Rep. Sander Levin; the late Richard Austin, Michigan's longtime secretary of state, and the late Coleman Young, Detroit longtime mayor.
In 1986, Mr. Casey told a Toledo audience there was a limit to how much public relations can affect the outcome of a campaign. Michigan voters that year had re-elected Gov. James Blanchard on the basis of his record in office, regardless of public relations, he said.
"We're not in the cosmetics business," Mr. Casey told the Northwestern Ohio Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, Sigma Delta Chi. "You don't get by with duds for long. People aren't stupid."
He wouldn't take clients he didn't agree with on issues.
"He had to be able to believe in them and vote for them," his wife said.
Former Blade politics writer Chase Clements in 1989 said Mr. Casey was "one of the shrewdest political analysts of the Democratic side in Michigan politics."
Mr. Casey offered analysis for nearly 30 years on J.P. McCarthy's popular long-running WJR-radio morning show, which captured a solid northwest Ohio listenership. An early champion of exit polls, Mr. Casey offered election night projections on Detroit's WDIV-TV. He and WJR shared a Detroit Press Club Foundation award in 1973 for radio coverage and a 1982 award for best television news coverage with WDIV.
On the corporate side, he led a campaign to promote safety belt use in cars - in effect, 50 separate campaigns tailored to each state and sponsored by the auto industry.
"It was a lifesaving campaign, and it was something he was very proud of," his wife said.
John Patrick Casey was born July 19, 1928, in Syracuse, N.Y., to Ellen and Patrick Casey. The family settled in West Toledo. He was a graduate of Central Catholic High School, and served in the Army afterward.
He was "one of Central Catholic's most illustrious alumni," Chris Amato, chief development officer of the high school from 1990-2000, said.
Mr. Casey helped lead an annual golf outing for the Class of 1946, and he donated computer equipment when he sold his business. His contributions every year included support for scholarships.
"He had a real heart for children who came from meager resources," Mr. Amato, president of the Historic South Initiative, said. "He was very specific that his contribution would help a child or two to go to Central."
Mr. Casey credited Sister Mary Grace for his enduring interest in journalism.
Speaking to the school's alumni publication, Scarlet & Gray, in 1994, he recalled always wanting to be a reporter, but the sister appointed him editor of the student newspaper, the Centric.
"I thank Sister Grace for giving me a shot at the editorship," Mr. Casey said in 1994. "It meant a lot to the fragile ego of a 17-year-old."
At the University of Toledo, Mr. Casey became editor of the Campus Collegian, as the student newspaper was then known. He became a Toledo Times reporter after a stint as a copy boy and by the late 1950s was a Free Press reporter.
He remained close to nieces and nephews in Toledo.
In retirement, Mr. Casey and his wife traveled to County Mayo in Ireland, from which his father emigrated in the 1910s. With little to go on but his reporter's skill, he found, met, and afterward stayed in touch with his Irish relatives, "a life-changing development later in life," his wife said.
Mr. Casey was formerly married to the late Ursula Romaker Casey.
Surviving are his wife, Mary Lou Butcher, whom he married May 2, 1982; sons Michael Casey, John Casey, and Patrick Casey; daughter, Gretchen Casey, and 10 grandchildren.
Memorial services are pending.
Published by The Blade on Oct. 14, 2021.
By Mark Zaborney
Blade staff writer
Jack Casey, a former Toledo Times and Detroit Free Press reporter turned southeast Michigan public relations executive, whose take on politics and public opinion received a wide audience via regular guest spots on radio and television, died Oct. 5 in his Rancho Mirage, Calif., home. He was 93.
He had heart disease, said his wife, Mary Lou Butcher, with whom he shared a communications consulting business in retirement.
Mr. Casey, of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., retired about 1990 after selling his firm, Casey Communications Management. Since then, he and his wife have spent winters at a second home in California.
He began in communications and political strategy in 1966, after several years as an assistant to then-Detroit Mayor Jerome P. Cavanagh.
Mr. Casey counted among his clients the late Carl Levin, from his successful campaigns for Detroit Common Council to U.S. senator; former U.S. Rep. Sander Levin; the late Richard Austin, Michigan's longtime secretary of state, and the late Coleman Young, Detroit longtime mayor.
In 1986, Mr. Casey told a Toledo audience there was a limit to how much public relations can affect the outcome of a campaign. Michigan voters that year had re-elected Gov. James Blanchard on the basis of his record in office, regardless of public relations, he said.
"We're not in the cosmetics business," Mr. Casey told the Northwestern Ohio Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, Sigma Delta Chi. "You don't get by with duds for long. People aren't stupid."
He wouldn't take clients he didn't agree with on issues.
"He had to be able to believe in them and vote for them," his wife said.
Former Blade politics writer Chase Clements in 1989 said Mr. Casey was "one of the shrewdest political analysts of the Democratic side in Michigan politics."
Mr. Casey offered analysis for nearly 30 years on J.P. McCarthy's popular long-running WJR-radio morning show, which captured a solid northwest Ohio listenership. An early champion of exit polls, Mr. Casey offered election night projections on Detroit's WDIV-TV. He and WJR shared a Detroit Press Club Foundation award in 1973 for radio coverage and a 1982 award for best television news coverage with WDIV.
On the corporate side, he led a campaign to promote safety belt use in cars - in effect, 50 separate campaigns tailored to each state and sponsored by the auto industry.
"It was a lifesaving campaign, and it was something he was very proud of," his wife said.
John Patrick Casey was born July 19, 1928, in Syracuse, N.Y., to Ellen and Patrick Casey. The family settled in West Toledo. He was a graduate of Central Catholic High School, and served in the Army afterward.
He was "one of Central Catholic's most illustrious alumni," Chris Amato, chief development officer of the high school from 1990-2000, said.
Mr. Casey helped lead an annual golf outing for the Class of 1946, and he donated computer equipment when he sold his business. His contributions every year included support for scholarships.
"He had a real heart for children who came from meager resources," Mr. Amato, president of the Historic South Initiative, said. "He was very specific that his contribution would help a child or two to go to Central."
Mr. Casey credited Sister Mary Grace for his enduring interest in journalism.
Speaking to the school's alumni publication, Scarlet & Gray, in 1994, he recalled always wanting to be a reporter, but the sister appointed him editor of the student newspaper, the Centric.
"I thank Sister Grace for giving me a shot at the editorship," Mr. Casey said in 1994. "It meant a lot to the fragile ego of a 17-year-old."
At the University of Toledo, Mr. Casey became editor of the Campus Collegian, as the student newspaper was then known. He became a Toledo Times reporter after a stint as a copy boy and by the late 1950s was a Free Press reporter.
He remained close to nieces and nephews in Toledo.
In retirement, Mr. Casey and his wife traveled to County Mayo in Ireland, from which his father emigrated in the 1910s. With little to go on but his reporter's skill, he found, met, and afterward stayed in touch with his Irish relatives, "a life-changing development later in life," his wife said.
Mr. Casey was formerly married to the late Ursula Romaker Casey.
Surviving are his wife, Mary Lou Butcher, whom he married May 2, 1982; sons Michael Casey, John Casey, and Patrick Casey; daughter, Gretchen Casey, and 10 grandchildren.
Memorial services are pending.
Published by The Blade on Oct. 14, 2021.
News Story
By Mark Zaborney
Blade staff writer
Jack Casey, a former Toledo Times and Detroit Free Press reporter turned southeast Michigan public relations executive, whose take on politics and public opinion received a wide audience via regular guest spots on radio and television, died Oct. 5 in his Rancho Mirage, Calif., home. He was 93.
He had heart disease, said his wife, Mary Lou Butcher, with whom he shared a communications consulting business in retirement.
Mr. Casey, of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., retired about 1990 after selling his firm, Casey Communications Management. Since then, he and his wife have spent winters at a second home in California.
He began in communications and political strategy in 1966, after several years as an assistant to then-Detroit Mayor Jerome P. Cavanagh.
Mr. Casey counted among his clients the late Carl Levin, from his successful campaigns for Detroit Common Council to U.S. senator; former U.S. Rep. Sander Levin; the late Richard Austin, Michigan's longtime secretary of state, and the late Coleman Young, Detroit longtime mayor.
In 1986, Mr. Casey told a Toledo audience there was a limit to how much public relations can affect the outcome of a campaign. Michigan voters that year had re-elected Gov. James Blanchard on the basis of his record in office, regardless of public relations, he said.
"We're not in the cosmetics business," Mr. Casey told the Northwestern Ohio Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, Sigma Delta Chi. "You don't get by with duds for long. People aren't stupid."
He wouldn't take clients he didn't agree with on issues.
"He had to be able to believe in them and vote for them," his wife said.
Former Blade politics writer Chase Clements in 1989 said Mr. Casey was "one of the shrewdest political analysts of the Democratic side in Michigan politics."
Mr. Casey offered analysis for nearly 30 years on J.P. McCarthy's popular long-running WJR-radio morning show, which captured a solid northwest Ohio listenership. An early champion of exit polls, Mr. Casey offered election night projections on Detroit's WDIV-TV. He and WJR shared a Detroit Press Club Foundation award in 1973 for radio coverage and a 1982 award for best television news coverage with WDIV.
On the corporate side, he led a campaign to promote safety belt use in cars - in effect, 50 separate campaigns tailored to each state and sponsored by the auto industry.
"It was a lifesaving campaign, and it was something he was very proud of," his wife said.
John Patrick Casey was born July 19, 1928, in Syracuse, N.Y., to Ellen and Patrick Casey. The family settled in West Toledo. He was a graduate of Central Catholic High School, and served in the Army afterward.
He was "one of Central Catholic's most illustrious alumni," Chris Amato, chief development officer of the high school from 1990-2000, said.
Mr. Casey helped lead an annual golf outing for the Class of 1946, and he donated computer equipment when he sold his business. His contributions every year included support for scholarships.
"He had a real heart for children who came from meager resources," Mr. Amato, president of the Historic South Initiative, said. "He was very specific that his contribution would help a child or two to go to Central."
Mr. Casey credited Sister Mary Grace for his enduring interest in journalism.
Speaking to the school's alumni publication, Scarlet & Gray, in 1994, he recalled always wanting to be a reporter, but the sister appointed him editor of the student newspaper, the Centric.
"I thank Sister Grace for giving me a shot at the editorship," Mr. Casey said in 1994. "It meant a lot to the fragile ego of a 17-year-old."
At the University of Toledo, Mr. Casey became editor of the Campus Collegian, as the student newspaper was then known. He became a Toledo Times reporter after a stint as a copy boy and by the late 1950s was a Free Press reporter.
He remained close to nieces and nephews in Toledo.
In retirement, Mr. Casey and his wife traveled to County Mayo in Ireland, from which his father emigrated in the 1910s. With little to go on but his reporter's skill, he found, met, and afterward stayed in touch with his Irish relatives, "a life-changing development later in life," his wife said.
Mr. Casey was formerly married to the late Ursula Romaker Casey.
Surviving are his wife, Mary Lou Butcher, whom he married May 2, 1982; sons Michael Casey, John Casey, and Patrick Casey; daughter, Gretchen Casey, and 10 grandchildren.
Memorial services are pending.
Published by The Blade on Oct. 14, 2021.
By Mark Zaborney
Blade staff writer
Jack Casey, a former Toledo Times and Detroit Free Press reporter turned southeast Michigan public relations executive, whose take on politics and public opinion received a wide audience via regular guest spots on radio and television, died Oct. 5 in his Rancho Mirage, Calif., home. He was 93.
He had heart disease, said his wife, Mary Lou Butcher, with whom he shared a communications consulting business in retirement.
Mr. Casey, of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., retired about 1990 after selling his firm, Casey Communications Management. Since then, he and his wife have spent winters at a second home in California.
He began in communications and political strategy in 1966, after several years as an assistant to then-Detroit Mayor Jerome P. Cavanagh.
Mr. Casey counted among his clients the late Carl Levin, from his successful campaigns for Detroit Common Council to U.S. senator; former U.S. Rep. Sander Levin; the late Richard Austin, Michigan's longtime secretary of state, and the late Coleman Young, Detroit longtime mayor.
In 1986, Mr. Casey told a Toledo audience there was a limit to how much public relations can affect the outcome of a campaign. Michigan voters that year had re-elected Gov. James Blanchard on the basis of his record in office, regardless of public relations, he said.
"We're not in the cosmetics business," Mr. Casey told the Northwestern Ohio Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, Sigma Delta Chi. "You don't get by with duds for long. People aren't stupid."
He wouldn't take clients he didn't agree with on issues.
"He had to be able to believe in them and vote for them," his wife said.
Former Blade politics writer Chase Clements in 1989 said Mr. Casey was "one of the shrewdest political analysts of the Democratic side in Michigan politics."
Mr. Casey offered analysis for nearly 30 years on J.P. McCarthy's popular long-running WJR-radio morning show, which captured a solid northwest Ohio listenership. An early champion of exit polls, Mr. Casey offered election night projections on Detroit's WDIV-TV. He and WJR shared a Detroit Press Club Foundation award in 1973 for radio coverage and a 1982 award for best television news coverage with WDIV.
On the corporate side, he led a campaign to promote safety belt use in cars - in effect, 50 separate campaigns tailored to each state and sponsored by the auto industry.
"It was a lifesaving campaign, and it was something he was very proud of," his wife said.
John Patrick Casey was born July 19, 1928, in Syracuse, N.Y., to Ellen and Patrick Casey. The family settled in West Toledo. He was a graduate of Central Catholic High School, and served in the Army afterward.
He was "one of Central Catholic's most illustrious alumni," Chris Amato, chief development officer of the high school from 1990-2000, said.
Mr. Casey helped lead an annual golf outing for the Class of 1946, and he donated computer equipment when he sold his business. His contributions every year included support for scholarships.
"He had a real heart for children who came from meager resources," Mr. Amato, president of the Historic South Initiative, said. "He was very specific that his contribution would help a child or two to go to Central."
Mr. Casey credited Sister Mary Grace for his enduring interest in journalism.
Speaking to the school's alumni publication, Scarlet & Gray, in 1994, he recalled always wanting to be a reporter, but the sister appointed him editor of the student newspaper, the Centric.
"I thank Sister Grace for giving me a shot at the editorship," Mr. Casey said in 1994. "It meant a lot to the fragile ego of a 17-year-old."
At the University of Toledo, Mr. Casey became editor of the Campus Collegian, as the student newspaper was then known. He became a Toledo Times reporter after a stint as a copy boy and by the late 1950s was a Free Press reporter.
He remained close to nieces and nephews in Toledo.
In retirement, Mr. Casey and his wife traveled to County Mayo in Ireland, from which his father emigrated in the 1910s. With little to go on but his reporter's skill, he found, met, and afterward stayed in touch with his Irish relatives, "a life-changing development later in life," his wife said.
Mr. Casey was formerly married to the late Ursula Romaker Casey.
Surviving are his wife, Mary Lou Butcher, whom he married May 2, 1982; sons Michael Casey, John Casey, and Patrick Casey; daughter, Gretchen Casey, and 10 grandchildren.
Memorial services are pending.
Published by The Blade on Oct. 14, 2021.
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