You’ve probably been wondering – just who is that Chris Cassell guy who wrote about Pro-Bono Photo last week? Right? Well, lucky you, I’m here to tell you all about him in this, the second in a randomly episodic series of “Meet a Member” pieces. Without further ado, I give you … Chris Cassell!
Chris popped on to the planet on the tiny island of Manhattan, and then zipped around here and there, touching down in, among other places, Chicago, Staten Island, and Prince Georges County, Maryland. He acquired a sister while in Chicago, and grew up with her, his mom, and his maternal grandmother. The sciences, especially anything having to do with space, were a draw for him in school. (A fun science-related memory: Chris dragged his mother and sister multiple times to the Bell Telephone exhibit at the ’64/65 World’s Fair to marvel at — a picture phone!) Outside of school the Boy Scouts played a key role in introducing him to the glories of the great outdoors through hikes and campouts in the Shenandoah Mountains, leading later to a love of serious rock climbing (though he hasn’t hit the rocks in some time).
Following high school Chris appears to have decided to obtain every degree under the sun, and while there are a few he doesn’t have, he’s no slacker in the degree department. (“More degrees than a thermometer.” Good one, eh?) He snagged a couple from the University of Chicago and much later earned a PhD from UC San Diego, but the most important degree of his life came courtesy of the U.S. Air Force, and it was crucial because it was in that program that Chris met his wife Carol.
Chris and Carol ended up in CA via a job offer from General Dynamics in San Diego where Chris worked in the Space Systems Division and got involved in studies related to the first Bush administration’s Lunar-Mars initiative. This got him hooked on the idea of space resource utilization, a subject that would become key later in life.
The aforementioned PhD was clearly an important piece of the ten years that Chris and Carol spent in San Diego, but two truly life-altering events occurred there, and their names are Helen and Harriet, the two wonderful Cassell daughters. Harriet is just barely able to call herself a native San Diegan; Chris’s start date for his new Bay Area position at Lockheed was timed around her birth along with the requisite 30 days before she could travel.
Remember that interest in space resource utilization? Well, today Chris works for a start-up – Deep Space Industries — that he co-founded. The company has about 15 employees now, and Chris is their orbital mechanic. For more about why Chris thinks human expansion into space is important, visit the Forum he gave last year to the Humanist Community at: http://www.humanists.org/blog/2017-03-19/
There’s so much more I could say about Chris, but before you run off, I’ve got to tell you how Chris ended up with us! He was introduced to the Unitarian Church as a kid and then to Judaism via Carol, and learned about Humanism from a visitor to Carol’s congregation. This led to his checking out the Humanist Community, where he learned about Ben Wade’s Bertrand Russell Society (along with Paula and Ben’s close proximity to the Cassell residence), and this, finally, led him to ECSSV. Lucky us! Chris and Carol are both ECSSV members, and many of us have had the good fortune to meet both Helen (brilliant filmmaker) and Harriet (amazing artist working in wood, metal and ceramics, who is studying furniture design).
I’ve barely scratched the surface of Chris, so I highly recommend quizzing him the next time you see him, and I’ve told you nothing about Carol, so you’ll just have to wait for a “Meet a Member” piece on her one day. Stay tuned!
