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Sean M. Casey spent the final year of his life doing what he had done for decades in Washington conference rooms and federal agencies: working carefully with the language of government — the bylaws, statutes and long-standing practices that shape how institutions function.
In Marblehead, that meant helping the Town Charter Committee organize and explain the town’s existing framework of bylaws, special acts and customary procedures in one document, as the committee had been charged to do.
Casey, a lifelong Marblehead resident who died Dec. 4 of cancer at 68, served as the committee’s principal drafter, helping produce early versions of a document meant to reflect how the town currently operates. His death came before the committee expected to bring forward a draft for Town Meeting consideration, leaving unfinished work that colleagues describe as reflecting his meticulous, understated approach to civic life.
“He was instrumental in the development of the charter,” said Amy Drinker, chair of the Town Charter Committee. “We will often think, ‘What would Sean say?’”
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Born Jan. 8, 1957, to Anne and Ed Casey, Sean grew up in the heart of the Shipyard neighborhood, a working-class enclave distinct from Marblehead’s more affluent districts. It was a world of park leagues, barber shops and multi-generational families where reputation mattered and community ties ran deep. He worked as a summer camp counselor for the town recreation department and co-founded the Shipyard Association in the late 1970s to address zoning issues in the neighborhood.
Those early years shaped his approach to public service: grounded, practical, skeptical of grandstanding.
“Sean was a Shipyarder, Marbleheader, park rat,” Town Moderator Jack Attridge wrote in a tribute after Casey’s death. “My generation had Sean to look up to as a mentor.”
After graduating from Marblehead High School in 1975, Casey earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Merrimack College and a Master of Public Policy from the University of Michigan Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. In 1977, he was named a Truman Scholar, one of the nation’s most prestigious awards for students committed to public service leadership.
For the next 37 years, Casey worked as a regulatory consultant, primarily for federal agencies including the departments of State, Energy, Defense, Agriculture, Transportation and Homeland Security. His expertise lay in translating complex regulatory frameworks into actionable programs, often involving multi-stakeholder processes governed by the Federal Advisory Committee Act. He worked in all 50 states and several foreign countries, including a large recovery program in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina.
His professional life was defined by precision, process and an ability to explain sprawling systems in clear terms.
“Sean was expert at taking complicated processes and organizations and define them in a few short and succinct sentences,” said Jim Zisson, a Select Board member who served with Casey on the Charter Committee.
In 2008, Casey moved back to Marblehead full time with his wife, Shannon Egan, and their two children, both of whom graduated from Marblehead High School. He continued consulting work but increasingly turned his attention to local civic life, attending Town Meeting regularly and volunteering for various commissions.
He also devoted himself to historical research, spending years compiling a manuscript on Marblehead residents who served in World War II. The project, titled “One Town’s War,” reconstructed the experiences of roughly 1,300 Marblehead men and women through service records, letters and oral histories. Draft chapters on Pearl Harbor and D-Day were published by the Marblehead Museum. His obituary noted that his extensive research “will be published at a later date.”
But in 2024, when the Select Board established an 11-member committee to draft the town’s first charter, Casey set aside the historical work to focus on governance.
Drinker said Casey began as a skeptic but became convinced through “meticulous research” that the town’s various governing documents and practices would be easier for residents and volunteers to understand if presented together. He took on the role of principal language drafter, producing footnoted drafts that explained the legal basis for each provision and how they related to bylaws, special acts and state law. He tracked edits, aligned versions, researched past practices, engaged with boards and departments to address their feedback and produced detailed notations — work Drinker said directly strengthened the fidelity of the charter’s language.
The draft charter preserves Marblehead’s existing structure, including Open Town Meeting and the Select Board’s policy authority, while presenting those roles and long-standing practices in a single, accessible reference document.
Zisson emphasized Casey’s commitment to that tradition.
“Don’t mess with open town meeting!!” Zisson said, recalling Casey’s stance during committee discussions.
Colleagues described Casey as collaborative, thorough and willing to listen.
“[Sean] was extremely thorough and looked at issues from every angle and never jumped to an answer,” Zisson said. He “always cared what everyone had to say and included that in his decision making and would never be dismissive.”
Drinker added that Casey “was a very quiet person who didn’t tout his capabilities” and “a very dedicated person and very committed to Marblehead as a multi-generational Marbleheader.”
His willingness “to dig in and research and understand how and why things are done the way they are was unparalleled,” Zisson said. “And to then put it in writing.”
Attridge said Casey’s contribution “reflected a kind of civic devotion you don’t see often anymore.”
“He understood that clarity in government is a form of respect for the public,” Attridge said.
Casey took a temporary leave from the committee in late 2025 due to illness — a move that prompted the committee to revise its timeline while affirming his work as foundational to the charter’s development. He died Dec. 4 after an illness.
He is survived by his mother, Anne Casey; his wife, Shannon; his son, Patrick; his daughter, Hannah; his sister, Cheryl Tremblay; his sister-in-law, Hannah Karass; and several nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his brothers, Tom and Nick Casey.
The charter Casey helped draft is expected to come before Town Meeting in 2027 and, if approved, advance to state legislative review before a townwide vote in 2028 — meaning his work will likely guide Marblehead for years to come.
“We will miss Sean,” Drinker said, “but we will carry on to finish the mission we were given.”
Friends and relatives are invited to attend his visitation on Friday, Dec. 12, from 4 to 8 p.m. at Eustis & Cornell of Marblehead, 142 Elm St. A memorial service will be held Saturday, Dec. 13, at 10:30 a.m. at Eustis & Cornell. In lieu of flowers, donations in Sean’s memory may be made to a charity of one’s choice.
