U.S. radio deejay, ‘Shaggy’ voice Casey Kasem dead at 82

Casey Kasem, the U.S. radio personality who counted down pop music hits on his popular weekly radio show and also lent his distinctive voice to hippie sleuth Shaggy in the “Scooby Doo” cartoons, died on Sunday. He was 82.

He was born in Detroit as Kemal Amin Kasem on April 27, 1932, the son of a Lebanese Druze grocer. He gained broadcast experience covering sports for his high school’s radio club.

“Early this Father’s Day morning, our dad Casey Kasem passed away surrounded by family and friends,” his daughter, Kerri Kasem, said in a statement posted online. “Even though we know he is in a better place and no longer suffering, we are heartbroken.”

Kasem, whose final years were marked by dementia, had been the focus of a dispute between his three children from his first marriage and his second wife, Jean Kasem. They said she had prevented them from visiting him as he suffered from Lewy body dementia, a malady with symptoms similar to Parkinson’s disease.

As his health deteriorated, a Los Angeles judge sided with the adult children and permitted them to withhold food, hydration and his usual medication as they chose comfort-oriented, end-of-life care at a Washington state hospital.

Kasem had three children with his first wife, Linda Myers, before divorcing in 1979. Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson officiated when he married his second wife, actress Jean Kasem, in 1980. They had one child.