Thomas C. Casey ’51, trustee emeritus, died on February 9, 2018, in Newport Coast, California.
(The following notice was shared by President Rose on February 23, 2018)
To the Bowdoin community,
It is my sad duty to report the death of Trustee Emeritus Thomas Clark Casey ’51 on February 9 in Newport Coast, California. Tom led a rich and active life—in fact, he had returned from a trip to Chile and Antarctica several weeks before his death.
Tom was born on December 17, 1929, in Akron, Ohio, the son of Thomas Wanton Casey and Portia Clark Casey. He graduated from Culver Military Academy in Indiana in 1947 and enrolled at Bowdoin as a member of the Class of 1951. He joined Psi Upsilon Fraternity, majored in economics, and was on the football, golf, and track teams. After graduation he entered Army Infantry Officer Candidate School and served until 1953, attaining the rank of first lieutenant.
Tom’s career in business began as a sales representative for the Acushnet Company in New Bedford, Massachusetts (1953-1955), followed by a sales position at the Reeves Rubber Company in San Clemente, California (1957-1959), and the position of general manager for Polymer Corporation in Santa Ana (1959-1961). He joined First American Trust Company in 1965, and over the course of his thirty-year career there, he rose from trust officer to president.
Tom earned an MBA degree in 1957 at Stanford University and was a 1970 graduate of the National Graduate Trust School of Northwestern University. After his retirement from First American Trust in 1995, he was certified by the Securities and Exchange Commission as a registered investment advisor and by the Society of Senior Advisors, drawing on his experience to counsel senior citizens and others on investment matters and retirement strategies as Thomas C. Casey, RIA. He maintained that private practice until the end of his life.
His long-standing record of public service is exemplary and is a testament to a life devoted to serving the common good. He served on the board of trustees and as president of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District; on the Hoag Hospital Board and the Hoag Foundation Board; as founding director of the Orange County Financial Society and on the Orange County Estate Planning Council; as chair of the Trust Executive Committee of the California Bankers Association (CBA); as president of the Orange County Mental Health Association and the Orange County Alzheimer’s Association; as a trustee of the Stanford University Business School Trust; as a founder of the Friends of UCI Foundation; as a director of the Newport Center Association; as vice president of the Newport Harbor Art Museum Business Council; as a member of the Big Canyon Country Club Finance, House, and Tournament Committees; and in other positions that improved the lives of people in the communities in which he lived. He was named Orange County Volunteer of the Year in 2003.
Tom served on the Capital Campaign Committee at Bowdoin in 1985-1986. He was elected to the board of overseers at Bowdoin in 1989, and when the College adopted a unicameral system of governance in 1996 he became a member of the board of trustees. He was elected a trustee emeritus in 2001. Tom’s tenure on the governing boards spanned a period of significant change at Bowdoin, and his financial acumen and his dedication to the College were valued by his colleagues and by administrators alike.
Tom is survived by his wife of twenty-one years, Suzy; his children, Tate Stanley (Susan), Douglas Chicle (Kathy), Gary Lee, Bradley Wallace, Nina Casey Takei (Tom), Mimi Casey Burns, and Thomas W.; seventeen grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren, Veronica, Timothy, Clark, Alice, Geoffrey, Ollie, Joey, and Chloe; and by Suzy’s daughters, Megan Penhoet and Cathy Henney. He was predeceased by a son, John Steven Casey.
We extend our sympathies to Tom’s family and his many friends during this difficult time. We are all fortunate to have shared in his legacy of public service, both at the College and in the area that was home to him for so many years.
Sincerely,
Clayton