Sometimes American Top 40 host Casey Kasem would become so overcome while doing a particularly touching dedication that he’d have to pause taping. “He had so much compassion and empathy for people,” his daughter Kerri Kasem, who worked with Casey, exclusively tells Closer. “He would read about someone’s loss or dedication and it would make him cry. We’d all have to wait until he could do it without emotion.”
The son of Lebanese immigrants, Casey grew up in Detroit and became a DJ for Armed Forces Radio during the Korean War. His long career included work in radio, acting and voice-overs, but he’s best remembered as the host of the national pop music countdown American Top 40 from 1970 to 1988. “Growing up, he wanted to be a baseball player,” says Kerri. “He went from being Casey at the bat to Casey at the mic.”
Despite his high-profile career, Casey was very involved with raising his four children. “When we were young, he was very, very strict,” says Kerri, 51, who is one of three children from Casey’s first marriage. “He taught us the importance of having manners, getting a good education, being kind and dressing well,” she says, adding that Casey took the time to explain why these things mattered. “My father had wonderful anecdotes. He always had advice.”
When Kerri was having trouble with school, Casey would stop by to check on her — daily! “He would come every recess. Even though it bothered and embarrassed me, he’d come in, check on me, and talk to my teacher and see if I had been turning in my homework,” she recalls. “He was such an amazing father. Very hands-on.”
Kerri admits that she didn’t realize her dad was famous until second grade when he did a presentation to her class on how cartoons were made. In addition to his radio career, Casey was a voice-over actor on popular animated series including Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! And Josie and the Pussycats. “He brought everybody a flip book, and then he started doing all of his cartoon voices,” Kerri says. “The kids were like,‘Wow, your dad is Shaggy on Scooby-Doo!’ ”
A Lasting Legacy
His family remained the light in his life, but Casey also tried hard to use his fame for the greater good. His favorite causes included animal rights, the creating of affordable housing and bringing peace to the Middle East. “Whether it was a popular opinion at the time or not, he didn’t care,” says Kerri.
But by 2013, Lewy body dementia had incapacitated Casey. His second wife, Jean, stopped Kerri and her siblings from visiting with him, resulting in a court battle that stretched on beyond his death at 82 the following year.
Kerri believes that her father would have been proud of the legislation that resulted from the fight. “I got the Kasem Cares Visitation Bill passed into law in 22 states. It allows adult children to ask a judge for visitation rights to an ailing parent or loved one,” says Kerri, who hopes to one day see it become a national law. “I am never going to give up fighting for my father.”
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