IN MEMORIAM

The Crossroads Irish-American Festival recently lost a great friend, teacher, and mentor in Danny Cassidy. Danny died at his home Saturday, October 11, 2008 of pancreatic cancer. He was 65.

Danny was a leader of the Bay Area's Irish American community and won the 2007 American Book Award for nonfiction for his pioneering book, "How the Irish Invented Slang: The Secret Language of the Crossroads” in which he traced the influence of Irish phrases on the development of American slang in the 1800s, discovering Irish roots in a slew of words that are common today in daily speech - like jazz, scam, brag, rookie, snazzy, fluke, knack, slugger, poker and sucker.

Danny was co-director and founder of the Irish Studies Program at New College of California and co-founder of the Crossroads Irish-American Festival. His creative and quick-silver mind inspired the creation and production of the Festival since 2002. He was musician, screenwriter, union organizer, Irish nationalist, historian, writer, and man of words. His contribution and legacy to the Irish-American community is inestimable. Danny will be deeply missed by his friends and family.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dilis.