Beloved “American Top 40” radio host Casey Kasem, who also provided the voice of Shaggy on the “Scooby-Doo” cartoons, died Sunday at a hospital in Washington state, succumbing to a long battle with Parkinson’s disease, his daughter said. He was 82.
“Early this Father’s Day morning, our dad Casey Kasem passed away surrounded by family and friends,” Kerri Kasem wrote on her Facebook page.
“Even though we know he is in a better place and no longer suffering, we are heartbroken. Thank you for all your love, support and prayers. The world will miss Casey Kasem, an incredible talent and humanitarian; we will miss our Dad.”
Kerri Kasem signed the announcement on behalf of herself, brother Mike and sister Julie.
Casey Kasem’s final months were marked by an ugly family feud between his second wife — “Cheers” actress Jean Kasem — and his three kids with first wife Linda Myers.
The kids accused the statuesque blonde of keeping them away from their dad.
The battle reached a bizarre low two weeks ago when Kerri Kasem won a court order in Washington state to have her dad taken to the hospital.
Kerri’s video recorded herself, deputies and paramedics confronting Jean, who tossed hamburger meat at them while making reference to King David, the Bible and meat for “the dogs.”
Several celebrities, while paying tribute to Kasem, also took his family to task via Twitter on Sunday.
”The Newsroom” actress Olivia Munn tweeted: “RIP Casey Kasem. My thoughts are with his children who didn’t get time with their father before his passing. So sad.”
And “Today” show weatherman Al Roker chimed in: “Casey Kasem didn’t deserve the public indignity by his family in his final days.”
When Kasem wasn’t spinning the platters that mattered on the radio, he kept busy with TV voice roles — none more famous than Shaggy on the iconic cartoon “Scooby-Doo,” which first aired in 1969.
That carton franchise has entertained generations of Americans, and Kasem said that’s no surprise.
“They found a formula that just works,” he told the Canadian Press in 2000.
Kasem provided Shaggy’s and other voices for various incarnations of the cartoon through 2009.
“Kids love ghosts, kids love mysteries and they love dogs. They’re always looking up to teenagers. Not only kids but adults — adults love that show.”
Kasem could launch into character as the reluctant hippie crime-fighter with virtually no rehearsal.
During that CP chat, he suddenly blurted out in his distinctive Shaggy voice: “Old buddy, old friend, old pal, here we are. What are we going to do about this mansion and those ghosts? Zoinks!!”
But Kasem will still be best known for “American Top 40” and his signoff: “Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars.”
While radio veered toward zany “morning zoo” and shock-jock formats, Kasem made his long career on sweet sentimentality — best summed up the “long-distance dedications” he did on “American Top 40.”
“The idea from the beginning was to do the type of thing on radio that Ed Sullivan did on television, good, honest stories with human interest,” Kasem told the Los Angeles Times in 1975.
Howard Stern sidekick and producer Gary Dell’Abate — seemingly the polar opposite of Kasem’s persona — said the “Top 40” host was an early role model.
“Casey Kasem was really the first radio guy I listened to on a regular basis,” Dell’Abate wrote in a piece Sunday for Billboard.
“Whenever I quote a music or chart fact on the show, Howard says, `Who do you think you are, Casey Kasem?’ I know he’s goofing on me but I take it as a compliment.”
On Kasem’s first “American Top 40” show on July 4, 1970, the top five songs were: Three Dog Night’s “Mama Told Me (Not to Come),” The Jackson Five’s “The Love You Save,” The Temptations’ “Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World Is Today),” “Ride Captain Ride” by Blues Image and Freda Payne’s “Band of Gold.”
On his last show in late 2003, the top five were: “Hey Ya” by Outkast, “Here Without You” by 3 Doors Down, “Suga Suga” by Baby Bash, “Perfect” by Simple Plan and “Someday” by Nickelback.
Kasem retired from show business in 2009.
The son of Lebanese immigrants, he was born Kemal Amin Kasem on April 27, 1932, in Detroit.
He was drafted and deployed to Korea, where the Army utilized his golden voice for the Armed Forces Radio Korea Network.
Kasem adopted his now-iconic moniker, believing his real name might not play with a broader audience.
“It didn’t sound like a deejay; it wasn’t hip. So we decided I’d be ‘Casey at the Mike’ — and I have been since,” Kasem told students during a 1997 visit with high school students in the Arab-American enclave of Dearborn, Mich.
The radio man was a long-time voice for Arab-American rights, animal rights and other liberal causes. He voiced for the 1972 presidential campaign of George McGovern.