Dr. James B. Casey

Dr. James B. Casey, age 75, of New Albany, Ohio died February 6, 2026 at The Landings of Westerville.

He was born on June 29, 1950 in Syracuse, New York, the son of John and Louise Casey of Cicero, New York.

Dr. Casey is survived by his wife, Diane Dates Casey, stepsons Nathan (Stacy) Smith and Jeremy Smith, grandson Zachary Dinovo, sister Patricia Casey Marrs of Marcellus, New York, nephew David (Jackie) Marrs, nieces Melinda (Mark) Marrs Mayer and Amy (Mark) Marrs Gasowski, as well as great nieces and nephews. He is also survived by sisters-in-law, Christine (David) van Alstyne, Luella (John) Bressler, Barbara (James) Talbot and brother-in-law Lynn (Siew Suan) Dates along with numerous nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents and his stepfather, Anthony B. Sackett of North Syracuse, New York.

Dr. Casey was married to Diane Dates on November 16,1984 in Columbus, Ohio. They had celebrated 41 years of marriage at the time of his death.

Dr. Casey grew up in Cicero and North Syracuse, New York and graduated from North Syracuse High School in 1968 and from LeMoyne College in Syracuse, New York in 1972 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He attended the SUNY at Geneseo for a Masters degree in Library Science in August 1973. From 1973 to 1983 he resided in Cleveland, Ohio, where he worked as Reference Librarian at Cleveland Public Library (1973-77) and Western Reserve Historical Society (1978-1983). While there, Dr. Casey earned a Master of Arts degree in History at Cleveland State University (1979) and a PhD in Librarianship from Case Western Reserve University (1985). From 1983 to 1984 he was Head Librarian of Ohio Historical Society in Columbus, Ohio and served as Director of the Pickaway County District Public Library from 1984 to 1992. Moving to the Chicago metropolitan area in 1992, he was Director of Oak Lawn Public Library for 20 years from 1992 to 2012. He led the Library on a major expansion of the facility ($6 million) during 2001-2004.

Active in professional organizations in both Ohio and Illinois, Dr. Casey was elected to 13 years on the Council of the American Library Association, and served on public policy committees for both the Ohio Library Association (1986-1988) and the Illinois Library Association (2001-2004), a member of the Construction Grant Review Committee of the State Library of Illinois (1999-2009), and won the Librarian of the Year award from the Illinois Library Association in 2005. The author of dozens of articles in the fields of librarianship and numismatics, Dr. Casey also wrote many successful grant proposals and led fund raising campaigns to augment library services in Ohio and Illinois. Dr. Casey retired in June 2012.

Dr. Casey served in the areas of worship assistance and stewardship at several Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) congregations -Trinity Lutheran Church (Ashville, OH), Mount Zion Lutheran Church (Oak Lawn, IL), Grace Lutheran Church (LaGrange, IL) and Peace Lutheran Church ( Gahanna, OH). He and his wife traveled extensively during their retirement years and visited 22 countries in Europe from 2012 to 2017. With their extended family they spent many relaxing summer vacations at Keuka Lake in the Finger Lakes region of New York State.

A memorial service will be held at Peace Lutheran Church, 455 Clark State Road, Gahanna, Ohio 43230. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Peace Lutheran Church in Gahanna.