Danny Cassidy

His friend Peter Quinn has written the following lines in appreciation. An obituary follows below.
Danny Cassidy died this past Saturday night from pancreatic cancer. Though it’s tempting to call him a prince of a man, Danny would have hated that description. He was a devout democrat and unrepentant republican, a labor and civil rights activist, with a deep loathing of privilege, titles and aristocracy. Fiercely proud of his working-class roots, and endowed with a unique combination of street smarts and scholarship, he not only had a profound understanding of the Irish-American experience. He embodied the very best–the enduring soul–of the Irish-American experience.
I last spoke with him two days before. He said how grateful he was to have had the support of so many (his words) “extraordinary friends.” He told me for the second time that he had experienced unconditional love from his mother and his wife, and that he felt, in the end, that this was the entire message of the gospel of Jesus — this was all that mattered in the face of death — and the rest was commentary.
It was a privilege to know him; a great grace to have had his friendship. His legacy to the Irish-American community — including his masterful, breakthrough book, “How the Irish Invented Slang” — is inestimable. We are so much poorer for his passing. Danny was the real thing. This was a man! May perpetual light shine upon him.
Peter Quinn is the author of the novels “Banished Children of Eve” and “Hour of the Cat,” and the collection of essays “Looking For Jimmy: A Search for Irish America.”

By Irish Echo Staff
Daniel Cassidy, who wrote the Irish Echo’s “Slanguage” column, has died. The 65-year-old scholar and filmmaker had been battling pancreatic cancer over the past several months.
Cassidy, who lived in San Francisco, won the 2007 American Book award for nonfiction for his pioneering “How the Irish Invented Slang: The Secret Language of the Crossroads.”
His thesis was that much of American slang — words, for instance, such as jazz, scam, poker, fluke and knack — was derived from the Irish language.
“It was a privilege to know him; a great grace to have had his friendship,” said author Peter Quinn “His legacy to the Irish-American community is inestimable. We are so much poorer for his passing.”
The Brooklyn-born son of a navy chief petty officer, Cassidy attended the New York Military Academy and after that studied English literature at Cornell University. He worked for many years as a musician.
In 1995, he founded and co-directed the Irish Studies program at New College of California, and directed the school’s Media and Film Studies program.
His own documentary about Northern Ireland, “Civil Rights and Civil Wrongs” was nominated for an Emmy in 1996.
Cassidy was a community leader, union and anti-war activist. He was a co-founder of San Francisco’s annual Crossroads Irish-American Festival.
In the last year of his life, Cassidy was working on a research project about the relationship between Irish immigrants and African Americans in 19th century Manhattan.
He is survived by Clare McIntyre, his wife of 25 years.