Dr. Kenneth Lyman Casey was born in Ogden, Utah, to Lyzena Sharar (née Payne) and Kenneth Lafayette Casey. His father passed away in a fishing accident before he was born, and he was raised by his mother and maternal grandmother (Tryphena Jones Payne). He had one brother, Mike Sharar, the son of his mother and stepfather, Dave Sharar (“Pop”). By age 15, Ken had lived in and attended school in Utah, Maryland, Washington, Georgia, and Indiana. Amid a somewhat transient upbringing, he remained committed to his schooling. Ken graduated from Whitman College in 1957 and the University of Washington School of Medicine in 1961. In 1958, he married Jean Louise Madsen, with whom he would share 64 years of marriage.
During the course of his training, Ken and Jean would move several times, and give birth to three children (Tena in Seattle, Lyman in New York, and Teresa in Bethesda). After an internship at Cornell Medical Center, and postdoctoral work at N.I.H and McGill, Ken accepted a faculty position, Associate Professor of Physiology at the University of Michigan, in 1966 and moved the family to Ann Arbor, Michigan. After completing his clinical training in neurology in 1975, Ken eventually became Chief of Neurology at the Ann Arbor V.A. Medical Center.
Some of his most notable research took place at McGill University in the 1960s, where he and colleague Ronald Melzack created and defined the three dimensions of pain, a widely accepted model now foundational in pain research. In 1974, he was part of a groundbreaking delegation invited to China to study the then little-understood use of acupuncture in anesthesia. Over his career, he authored and coauthored more than 250 publications, including book chapters and two books, the last of which, “Chasing Pain” (Oxford University Press, 2019), Ken wrote at age 82.
Ken and Jean were active in the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Ann Arbor and in the community generally, committed to civil rights, and passionate supporters of the arts. Ken loved music, especially guitar, jazz, and barbershop quartet singing. He enjoyed traveling, whether to visit family, attend scientific meetings, or discover new adventures all over the world with Jean during retirement. In later years, as her health declined, Ken devoted himself to caring for Jean with an almost singular focus.
Ken was a serious admirer of life, from the cell to the cosmos. He was endlessly curious, scientifically rigorous, and joyfully irreverent.
He is survived by his three children, seven grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.
The family takes comfort in knowing he remains, as he would say, within the cosmos and the hearts and minds of those who knew, admired, and loved him.
A memorial will be held at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Ann Arbor (UUAA) on a future date, to be determined.
Donations in his honor may be made to Doctors Without Borders, Union of Concerned Scientists, the ACLU, or World Central Kitchen.
Services are in the care of Nie Funeral Home Liberty Chapel.