Casey’s Biography

Casey A. Feldman, 21 years old, was struck by a distracted motorist on July 17, 2009 in a crosswalk during daylight hours when on her way to a summer job as a waitress in Ocean City, N.J. A senior at Fordham University in NYC, Casey died some 5 hours later at the Atlantic City Memorial Hospital.

Casey was born April 6, 1988, the daughter of Joel Feldman and Dianne Anderson and the sister of Brett Feldman. She was raised in Springfield (Delaware County), PA and graduated from Springfield High School in 2006. An honors student, Casey was multi-talented, acting in acting in all of the high school theater productions beginning in her sophomore year and singing in the chorus and Springfield Singers.  She also poured her energy into writing and journalism, anchoring the school’s news program, writing and editing the school newspaper and serving as senior editor of the yearbook. In addition, Casey was the lead critic from Springfield High School for the Greater Philadelphia Region Cappies, a theater review and writing program and had many of her reviews published in local newspapers, including The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Casey also graduated from the News Studies internship program at KYW News Radio and completed an internship at CBS Channel 3 Television News during her high school years. She earned the Pennsylvania National Merit Commended Student award, was a member of Springfield High School 800 Club for having achieved a perfect score of 800 on the verbal section of the SAT, and was an award recipient in the National Language Arts Olympiad, among other academic distinctions. Casey was also an accomplished equestrian and former horse owner who won many awards through competing in the Chester County Horse Show Association.

Frank McKnight, principal of Springfield High School and Feldman’s fifth grade teacher, said, “Casey was a wonderful person overall, and she had so many friends because she was genuinely kind to everyone”.

Soon after arriving at Fordham, where Casey majored in communication and media studies, she joined The Observer, the newspaper at the Manhattan campus, getting her first news bylines as a freshman, becoming an assistant news editor as a sophomore and news editor as a junior. In June, 2009 she was named a finalist for the 2009 Chandler Award for Student Writer of the Year in Religion, sponsored by the Religion Newswriters Association. During her time at Fordham, Casey continued to secure internships, earning bylines from AM New York, The News of Delaware County and Philadelphia Style magazine. In the fall of 2009, she was to have begun an internship at NY1, a Manhattan-based television station. “Casey was an enormously talented, endlessly curious and deeply ethical young reporter,” said Dr. Elizabeth Stone, a journalism professor at Fordham and faculty advisor to the campus paper. [Casey] was one of “my most promising students…. Smart and dogged, whimsical and kind, she was going places….She knew a good story idea when she saw it, she had her Google alerts in place to make sure she didn’t miss it, and she had the energy and skill to turn a good idea into a publishable article. Casey’s friends knew that her favorite quote was a line of H.L. Mencken’s–‘I know of no human being who has a better time than an eager and energetic young reporter.’ And I know of no eager and energetic young reporter who took that more to heart than Casey”.

Casey was a compassionate person as well as a highly personable extrovert who was fun loving and had a great sense of humor. She loved people, animals and life. She was a photography minor and enjoyed taking photographs of everything. She was a loyal friend and always made an effort to keep in contact with all of her friends, including those from childhood. Casey also loved family and family traditions and took the time to stay closely connected with family as well. She loved the beach and the mountains as well as the country and the city but, NYC held a special place in her heart. In a personal letter written during high school, Casey said, “I love to travel, and have done so for as long as I can remember. But there will never be a place I feel as passionate about as New York City. There will never be a place in which I feel as alive, inspired, and hopeful about what life has in store for me….”

During her time as a student in Manhattan, Casey also volunteered at the West End homeless shelter, Momentum Soup Kitchen, and Animal Haven Shelter.

In addition to her parents and brother, Casey was survived by her grandparents Martin and Winnie Anderson of Vineland, NJ, aunts and uncles Janice and Jim Gallagher of Ocean View, NJ, Susan and Harvey MacNeill of Pittsgrove , NJ, Marcy Seminoff of Springfield, Pa, Andrew Feldman of Philadelphia and cousins, Jamie Gallagher of Ocean View, N.J, Christopher MacNeill of Pittsgrove, N.J., Curtis MacNeill of Boulder, CO, and Nick and Adam Seminoff of Swarthmore, Pa.

Internment was at West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Bala Cynwyd, Pa on July 23, 2009.

[Visit The Casey Feldman Foundation and EndDD.org to see the work taking place in Casey’s memory. Visit the Casey Feldman photo gallery to view photos of Casey]