Maria Elfriede Casey

Maria was born on August 15th, 1959 in Billings, MT, to Heinz and Esther (O’Toole) Pessler. After frequent moves during her early life, Maria grew up in Grafton, ND where she graduated from Grafton High School in 1977. Maria studied at Arizona State University and Moorhead State University, after which she built a dynamic career as a journalist and award-winning news producer in Fargo, ND, San Francisco, Dallas, Chicago and New York, where she won Emmy awards for Outstanding Single Newscast and Outstanding Event Coverage in 1990 and 1991, respectively. On November 1st, 2013 Maria married Dennis Casey.

Maria was an unapologetic romantic. She was passionate and fiercely loyal. She laughed easily and sang beautifully. She was a brilliant and accomplished writer, a wonderful cook, a voracious reader and an avid traveler. Maria’s acute intellect and razor wit were well known and she was widely admired by her many friends and colleagues. Her career brought her to SuperBowls, earthquakes, grand parades and war zones. She loved culture and big cities and small towns and great food and antiques and beautiful music. And her friends. And her family. And cats.

Maria was preceded in death by her mother, Esther, and her Father, Heinz. She is survived by her husband, Dennis and her brother, Anthony.