Obituary of Peter F. Casella

Peter F. Casella, a former patent and licensing executive of Hooker Chemical Co. and Occidental Petroleum Corporation and a nationally recognized authority on patents and licensing died on August 27, 2014 at his home in Lewiston, NY. He was 92 years old. Mr. Casella headed the Patent and Licensing Department at Hooker and, subsequently Occidental Chemical, for nearly thirty years from 1954 until his retirement in 1981. During those years Mr. Casella and the department he headed obtained more than 5,000 patents, which laid the foundation for much of Hooker's and Occidental's chemicals and plastics business and for Hooker's growth in the 1950's and 1960's. Mr. Casella was born June 5, 1922 in New York City to Fiore and Lucy (Grimaldi) Casella. He graduated from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn (now part of New York University) in 1943 with a degree in Chemical Engineering and began work that year as a chemical engineer on the Manhattan Project. He served as a Tech Sergeant in the U.S. Army in the Fifth Army's Italian Campaign from 1944 until his honorable discharge in 1946. He returned to Hooker after the war, was appointed assistant to the company's sole patent attorney and began the study of patent law. He passed the US Patent bar examination and was registered to practice before the U.S. and Canadian Patent and Trademark Offices in1947. Soon afterward, he became Head of Hooker's Patent Section and in 1954 became the Manager of the Hooker Patent Department. In 1964 he became Director of Patents and Licensing of Hooker and subsequently, of Occidental Chemical (when Occidental acquired Hooker in1968) until his retirement in 1981. Mr. Casella authored more than 25 publications on patents and licensing, including "Drafting the Patent Application" published by the University of Buffalo Press and "The United States Patent System, Our Incentive System for Material Progress" published by the Chemist. He was an authority on Soviet Patents and Licensing and an early advocate of technology exchanges between the United States and the Soviet Block. During the years 1973 to 1976 he was a US Department of Commerce Delegate to the Soviet Union, Poland and East Germany on the subject of patents, licensing, and technology exchange. He was a member of numerous professional organizations including the New York Patent Law Association, the association of Corporate Patent Counsel, the Patent and Trademark Institute of Canada, and the Charted Institute of Patent Attorneys in Great Britain. He was a founder and president of the Niagara Frontier Intellectual Property Association. He was also a member of the American Chemical Society and a Trustee and Vice President of the Licensing Executives Society. After retiring from Occidental Chemical, Mr. Casella established a patents and licensing consulting firm and continued to write patent applications until he was well into his eighties. Mr. Casella was also active in civic affairs. He served on the Niagara Falls Chamber of Commerce and the Lewiston-Porter School Board of Education. He was a member of the Niagara Club, serving as its' president in 1974, and was a member of the Niagara Falls Country Club. Mr. Casella is predeceased by his wife of 43 years, the former Marjorie Enos, whom he married in 1946. He is survived by three children, William of New York City, Susan Steiner of Brunswick, ME, and Richard of Portsmouth, RI; two grandchildren, Elizabeth Steiner of Pittsburg, PA and James Steiner of New York City. He was also predeceased by three sisters and a brother. Private funeral services were held on Monday September 1, 2014. Arrangements were entrusted to HARDISON FUNERAL HOME, N. Fourth & Ridge Sts., Lewiston