American Top 40 legend Casey Kasem poses for photographers after receiving the Radio Icon award during the 2003 Radio Music Awards at the Aladdin Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. He hosted the syndicated countdown show from its 1970 inception to 1988, and then again in a second stint from 1998 to 2004. His smooth voice and calming demeanor made him an icon to so many radio listeners.
Sadly, his personal life took a sad turn in 2007 when he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. By 2013 it had worsened to where he couldn’t speak. His adult children from his first marriage alleged that his current wife Jean had cut off access to their dad. They later applied for conservatorship over Casey, but were denied. Jean later moved their dad out of a nursing home in Santa Monica, CA and to a hospital in Washington state, where he died on June 15, 2014.
Three of Casey’s children sued Jean for wrongful death, elder abuse and intentional infliction of emotional distress, claiming her actions shortened the radio icon’s life. Jean later moved Casey’s body out of the country to be interred at a cemetery in Oslo, Norway before his children could get an autopsy performed on their dad.
