Mr. Casey Gauntt

Casey retired in 2018 from 43 years of practicing corporate and real estate law in San Diego.

In 1970 his father died by suicide when Casey was 20 years old. In 2008, Casey’s 24-year-old son, Jimmy, a rising star and professional writer, was accidentally struck and killed by a car walking home from a party.

Three months later, Casey was reconnected with his father and son by means that can only be described as miraculous. He wrote and shared that story, The Letter, (later made into an award-winning short film), and thus began his second, and most rewarding, career as a writer and companion to others in grief.

Casey and Jimmy published their first book in 2015, SUFFERING IS THE ONLY HONEST WORK. Jimmy contributed much of what is in the book, including its title, and more than earned posthumous credit as the book’s co-author.

Casey’s second book, WHEN THE VEIL COMES DOWN, was released on Amazon in 2021 and reveals the many lessons Jimmy, Casey’s Dad, and so many others have shown and taught him about how thin the veil actually is.

In 2021 Casey pulled together the stories he’s written about some of the colorful characters in his family into THE GAUNTT-CASE CLANS: THE STORIES, THE LEGEND AND THE LORE.

In 2023 he published the first biography of HARVEY SLOCUM: THE BEST DAM MAN IN THE WORLD. Born in 1887, this native San Diegan, armed with an eighth-grade education, built twenty of the biggest dams all over the world including Grand Coulee Dam in the State of Washington, Friant Dam in Central California, and Bhakra Dam in India.

Casey's latest book, SS CENTRAL AMERICA-DESTINED FOR DISASTER, features incredible stories of survival and sacrifice of those on board the fateful voyage of the steamship that sank off South Carolina in 1857 and took to the bottom of the Atlantic 435 men and over five tons of gold. Casey's third great-aunt and her baby daughter were among the 161 survivors.

Casey and Hilary, his wife and best friend of over 52 years, live in Solana Beach, California. Their daughter, Brittany, son-in-law, Ryan, and three grandchildren live close by.