Lee Casey

1889-1951 * Columnist

Lee Casey was a star reporter, a longtime columnist and even acting editor of the Rocky Mountain News for a couple years.

Whether turning out hard-hitting - and courageously against the grain of the times - columns defending the rights of Japanese-American citizens during World War II, or a 13-year-old Wyoming boy railroaded by the justice system, he wrote with a power and direct simplicity that stemmed from a clear sense of right and wrong.

At the same time, he was an avid reader who could deliver beautiful pieces on classical literature.

But he was definitely a character, a regular at the Denver Press Club poker games. Word is that he was the inspiration for the man with an imaginary 6-foot rabbit as a friend in the story Harvey.

And he couldn't leave his beloved job, or his beloved newspaper, behind, even after his death in 1951. Casey's ashes were interred in the marblework of the paper's lobby in the building at 400 W. Colfax Ave. They were removed to Olinger Crown Hill Mortuary and Cemetery when the Rocky moved east to 101 W. Colfax Ave. in 2006.