Re: Rusty Casselton RIP
Eric Grayson
who have posted here.
I'm completely at a loss on this, as, I expect, are many of us. I knew
Rusty had had some minor health problems recently; I'd spoken to him
about them, but it was nothing like this!
Rusty so often saved films that no one else cared about and reprinted
things that were not going to see the light of day otherwise. Sure, he
was slow and you had to rag him on delivery pretty often, but it was
always worth it. He was slow because he was working on too many
projects.
I am stunned and saddened. Rusty was one of the last people who still
believed in real film and this is going to make that all the more hard.
This is the greatest loss to film preservation since Bill Everson died.
I don't want to discount Ted Larson's death, but Rusty carried on from
that himself, since their collection was joint.
My warmest regards to Cindy and the girls. If anyone reading this
knows about funeral arrangements, please let me know. Make the obvious
change to my email and contact me directly.
Eric
miller robert m
miller robert m
If that link didn't work with your browser, here's the full story:
MSUM film prof dies at age 53
Amy Dalrymple, The Forum
Published Tuesday, January 01, 2008
The man who established a film studies major at Minnesota State University
Moorhead and was active in the Fargo film community died Sunday night.
Casselton became director of MSUM's film studies department in 2001 after
spending 22 years at Concordia College.
He was internationally known for film preservation and restoration, had an
enormous film collection and worked with the Fargo Film Festival every
year.
Rusty was a phenomenal leader in his area; just always very full of
energy, said Kathleen Enz Finken, MSUM dean of arts and humanities.
Students and others who knew Casselton will likely be shocked to hear of
his death because few knew he was sick, Enz Finken said.
Casselton discovered he had cancer in March and doctors said hed have two
to five years to live, said his wife, Cindy Casselton. He chose not to
tell many people about his illness, she said.
He decided to live and not give in to the cancer, Cindy Casselton said. To
tell now meant that everyone would be wondering and waiting. He just
didn't want that.
Casselton died of complications from a procedure to shrink the tumors on
his liver, his wife said.
He was surrounded by his family and friends, including daughters Hannah,
16, and Amanda, 14.
MSUM sent e-mails to students in the department notifying them of
Casselton's death. Assistant professor Kyja Kristjansson-Nelson said many
students will likely return to campus early to attend his funeral.
Rusty was very well-liked by the students and very well-respected, she
said. They just really liked him and his classes.
Casselton's predecessor and business partner, Ted Larson, a longtime MSUM
professor, died unexpectedly in 2000 at age 60.
Casselton took over the department after that difficult time and built it
into a strong program for the region, Kristjansson-Nelson said.
When the film studies major was approved at MSUM, there were 30 students
in the program. Three years later, MSUM has more than 120 film studies
majors, Enz Finken said.
He really dedicated a tremendous amount of time and energy into that
program and it was all for students, she said.
First and foremost, though, Casselton was a father and husband who shared
that passion for film with his family, his wife said.
We would watch films in a different way, Cindy Casselton said. I would
watch it for the story; he would say Did you see that bad edit?
Amanda Casselton remembers getting excited about Charlie Chaplin when her
friends had never heard of him.
I was my dad's little film girl, she said.
Rusty Casselton also was involved with the Fargo Theatre, serving on the
board, providing films for silent movie night and working with the Fargo
Film Festival.
His preservation and restoration work has appeared in numerous
documentaries and is played on television and at museum and archive
showings around the world.
He has a real legacy for a very young man, said Margie Bailly, the Fargo
Theatres executive director.
Readers can reach Forum reporter Amy Dalrymple at (701) 241-5590
Copyright 2008 Forum Publications
christoph...@und.nodak.edu
news for all of us who knew him and a genuine tragedy for the world of
film preservation and education. His dedication, enthusiasm,
friendliness, and generosity remained constant throughout the nearly
35 years I knew him. I met him when we were both 20-something film
students attending Cinecons while other college kids in the 70s had
more typical college-student interests. The vast extent of his
knowledge and contacts, combined with his hands-on work in film
collection, preservation, and restoration, as well as education,
exhibition and production make his sudden absence an irreplaceable
loss.
A substantial percentage of my silent film collection was directly due
to Rusty. As often as not while driving through Fargo-Moorhead between
Minneapolis and Grand Forks, I would stop at his home to pick up or
drop off a print of something or other and he would always take time
to chat. Usually he would eagerly thread up a reel of some new
acquisition or duplicate title from a bulk purchase to see if its
picture quality, condition, or completeness was better than what he
already had, and see if I had any comments or might know of any better
sources. There were always stacks of reels and film cans lying around,
35mm and 16mm, usually in transit to or from a lab or archive for one
of the many current projects he would gladly explain. When his
daughters were little, he'd already gotten them hooked on silent film
collecting and they would beg to show off their latest 8mm Chaplin
film to anyone who stopped by.
Rusty was disappointed that he did not feel up to running the annual
MSU-Moorhead Summer Cinema series this past summer, and hoped to have
it return in 2008. A year ago he came up with some of his students for
the Forx Film Fest, to see their work being screened in a theatre
setting and to participate in a movie production panel. It was exactly
a month ago he'd planned to be here again (the date my own latest
movie production was to screen at the festival), but unfortunately a
sudden blizzard combined with several other factors to cancel the
Moorhead film department group trip for 2007. Rusty will truly be
missed.
--Christopher Jacobs
http://www.und.nodak.edu/instruct/cjacobs
http://fargofilmmaking.wikia.com/wiki/Rusty_Casselton
Annette Lloyd
wrote:
> My warmest regards to Cindy and the girls. If anyone reading this
> knows about funeral arrangements, please let me know.
For all, from the local newspaper:
Harold "Rusty" Casselton
Died Sunday at age 53 in Rochester (Minn.) Methodist Hospital.
Survivors: wife, Cindy Casselton; two daughters, Hannah Casselton,
Amanda Casselton; and three sisters, Roxanne Granlund, Suzanne Bjork,
Pattianne (Greg) DeMaray.
Services: Visitation will be Thursday from 5 to 7, with a prayer
service at 7, in Bethesda Lutheran Church, Moorhead. The funeral will
be Friday at 10:30 in the church. The graveside service will be Friday
at 3 in Kongsvinger Lutheran Church Cemetery, Donnelly, Minn.
For those who might wish to send flowers or cards:
Bethesda Lutheran Church
401 40th Ave. S.
Moorhead, MN 56560
Yours,
Annette Lloyd