BILL CASKEY
February 20, 1947 – November 20, 2014
Bill Caskey, partner in the
show promotions company Caskey Lees, passed away on Thursday, November 20,
2014, due to complications from Early Onset Alzheimer’s Disease. He was 67 years old.
Bill was born to Dorothy and
Elmer Caskey in 1947. He spent his
early childhood in Ashland, KY and later attended high school in Dayton,
OH. Under his mother’s guidance,
Bill frequented local antiques auctions and acquired several valuable
pieces. These early antiquing
years fueled a lifelong love of antiques & art.
In 1969 Bill moved to
Toronto where he met his first wife, Sandra. Together they ran Red Lion Antiques, The Collectors
Book Shelf and The Indian Gallery.
During this time, Bill also opened Horizon Enterprises, to produce
antique shows across Canada.
In 1982, Bill returned to
the US and settled in California with his second wife Elizabeth and stepson
Brandon. His daughter Netanya
joined them in 1991. Together Bill
and Liz founded Caskey Lees, an antique fair production house, and also
exhibited their own materials in antique shows across the country.
In 1985, they created The
Los Angeles Folk & Ethnographic Art Show, an art fair that more closely
reflected the material they were drawn to and dealt in. This endeavor became the first of the
Tribal & Textile Arts Shows that eventually expanded from Los Angeles to San
Francisco and New York. It marked
the beginning of a thirty-year career producing high-end specialized art fairs
across the country. In addition to
Tribal Art Shows, Bill and Caskey Lees produced the Arts of Pacific Asia Shows
(Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York), the Los Angeles Modernism Show and
The New York Ceramics Fair, amongst others. Bill Caskey and Liz Lees have been long time EAC members and
supporters.
In 2009 Bill began
experiencing some lapses of memory and was eventually diagnosed with Early
Onset Alzheimer’s Disease in May 2010.
Bill loved the antique business. He was so passionate about the shows
that he developed, and very proud to see how well respected they had
become. He was devastated when he
realized that he could not continue with the work that had, since the age of nineteen,
been his passion.
Bill is survived by his wife
Elizabeth Lees, step-son Brandon, daughter Netanya, her husband Kris, his
grandsons Maxx and Logan, his mother Dorothy Caskey, former wife Sandra,
brothers Steve and Kevin and their families.
Donations can be made in
Bill’s memory to the Alzheimer’s Association, Southern California Chapter, http://www.alz.org, 4221 Wilshire Blvd., Suite
400, Los Angeles, CA 90010, or with Jennifer at (323) 930-6246. The Alzheimer’s Association not only
funds much needed research, but also funds programs to support patients and
their families as they deal with this devastating illness. At his request, no funeral
services are planned.
