Danny James Cassidy
March 4, 1946 - May 3, 2025
Danny Cassidy, age 79, of Ponca City, Oklahoma, passed away after a long illness on May 3, 2025, with his devoted wife, Judy, and son, Travis, by his side. He was born on March 4, 1946, to Katherine and James Cassidy in Blackwell, Oklahoma. Danny attended Blackwell High School and was involved in many things such as stage band, the all-school play, National Honor Society, student council, Boys’ State, and Hi-Y Service Club where he served as president and State World Service Chairman. Danny was an incredible intellect and received a fellowship to attend Harvard one summer while he was in high school for his creation of a pacemaker for a frog. Danny graduated from Blackwell High School as class co-valedictorian in 1964 and was an Honorary National Merit Scholar. Danny enjoyed working with his father in the heat and air business in Blackwell throughout high school.
From 1965–1969, Danny worked in the aerospace industry working at Beech AirCraft in Wichita, Kansas, where he developed software and interfaced all components of the Model 99 heating and air conditioning system into an IBM mainframe, which allowed all required testing of the system to be done dynamically rather than static and total evaluation time from years to just 3 months. This was a job he truly enjoyed. He also was very tech savvy and loved electronics/computers and could fix anything. He would spend hours in front of a computer and loved taking things apart and putting them back together. Danny was a jack of all trades and had many interests. In high school, he made a rocket that blew the roof off his house. He always loved telling that story.
Danny married his first wife, Patricia (Stegeman) Cassidy, in 1966, and they had two beautiful daughters, Lisa Cassidy and Wendy Cassidy. Danny met Judy (Johnson) Cassidy, the love of his life, and the two were married July 9, 1989. With this marriage Danny gained a son, Travis Jones, who became one of his best friends.
In 1978, Danny opened the first Apple Computer Store in Wichita, Kansas under a company called Spectrum Applecations. They developed an interactive videotape controller and software development language for interactive video training. His intelligence and vision were way ahead of his time, so that endeavor did not pan out for him at that time.
Danny attended the University of Oklahoma majoring in math from 1964–1965 where he was in the President’s Leadership Class. He then attended Wichita State University in Kansas from 1965–1969 majoring in economics. Danny returned to the University of Oklahoma and entered the School of Medicine from 1969–1973 and received his Doctor of Medicine Degree on June 10, 1973. Danny did his internship in internal medicine from 1974–1975 at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City. He then completed two residency: one in internal medicine in 1974 and one in neurology in 1975 both at the Veterans’ Administration Hospital. Danny received his Board Certification in Emergency Medicine in July of 2001. His first Practice was at the Midwest City Hospital from 1974–1982 where he was an Emergency Department Physician. Simultaneously, Danny was the medical director and staff physician of the Emergency Department at Presbyterian Hospital in OKC.
From 1982–1989, he was the Chairman and Founder of Actronics, Inc. in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Actronics, Inc. was a medical educational company which produced, manufactured, and sold Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) Learning Systems to the American Heart Association. This system was the world’s first interactive video disk product and allowed students to be certified in CPR and ACLS. It was a medical training course that taught healthcare professionals how to manage life-threatening cardiac emergencies, such as cardiac arrest and acute coronary syndrome without an instructor. It also monitored and evaluated skill performance using specially designed adult and infant manikins and an intubation head all of which Danny helped create. This system is still in use today in the CPR Annie doll in hospitals in the United States and Canada saving countless lives every day. Danny worked closely with the ECC subcommittee of the American Heart Association as well as various other medical groups to evaluate the use of similar techniques to other forms of medical training. After the revision of CPR and ACLS standards in 1985, Danny produced and distributed free to each affiliate of the American Heart Association a CPR training tape to facilitate the implementation of new CPR standards. Danny was once even featured on an episode of Forensic Files in 1995 where he helped solve a woman’s murder when 31 other doctors she visited could not find out what was wrong with her.
In 1989, he took a leave of absence to help his father sell his business in Blackwell, OK. He decided to stay in Oklahoma to reestablish his medical practice. Danny then worked as an Emergency Room Physician from 1989–2014 at Ponca City Hospitals, Stillwater Hospital, and Blackwell Hospital. Danny was owner of Physicians’ Urgent Care Clinics. He then started working in the emergency room at Ponca City Hospital kickstarting a 45 year career in emergency medicine.
Danny and Judy were devoted to each other for 36 years and enjoyed traveling together, going on cruises, working in their yard, and shopping for antiques for their home. Danny was given a beloved nickname from his wife……Doogie, which she got from the hit TV show Doogie Howser, M.D. Judy and Travis loved calling Danny, Doogie and did right up until his death.
As good of a doctor as Danny was, he was just as good a cook. His family even thought he could have opened up a restaurant and had a career in the restaurant business. Danny loved making meals for his son, Travis and daughter-in-law, Dianna. They loved going to Danny and Judy’s house several times a month for dinner and family time. Danny would spoil them terribly, not allowing them to lift one finger in the kitchen. He wanted them to sit and spend time with Judy. Danny loved hosting Christmas parties for his family and close friends. He was an amazing host and never let any of the guests help with any part of the preparation that usually took him two to three days. Even right up till his death, Danny hosted dinners for his dear friends where he cooked and prepared the entire meal. Danny loved reading and did everything he could to help keep his mind fresh. He still had this sharp mind right up until his death.
Danny was also very involved in the Blackwell Class of 1964 and as class president, he was a major planner in the entire reunion. He loved being from Blackwell and gathering every year with his classmates. In 2021, Danny was so very honored to be inducted into the Blackwell Hall of Fame for his medical impact to the citizens of Kay County.
After his official retirement from the Ponca City Hospital, Danny continued to work part-time in the emergency room at the Blackwell/Stillwater Hospital to give relief to the overworked doctors that he called his friends. Danny was quite the conversationalist. Judy said she fell in love with him on their first date because he would not stop talking, and she loved that. Danny had many great qualities. He was very considerate and never wanted to impose on anyone. Danny was a giver and always thought of others every holiday making sure his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren were thought of and spoiled on these special days.
Danny is preceded in death by his parents Katherine (Huhn) Cassidy and James Cassidy of Blackwell; his grandparents; his sister, Marilyn Simon of Blackwell; his daughter Lisa Cassidy of Norman; his mother and father-in-law Jack and Dorthy Johnson of Tonkawa; and his great-granddaughter Oaklyn Farias of Ponca City.
Danny is survived by his wife, Judy Cassidy of Ponca City; daughter Wendy Cassidy and husband Luke Freese of Dallas, Texas; his son Travis Jones and wife Dianna of Ponca City; grandson Jordan Jones and wife Teri of Tonkawa; grandson, Dodger Jones and girlfriend Morgan Ricardson of Ponca City; granddaughter Brooklyn Jones and fiance’ Octavio Farias of Ponca City; great-grandchildren Preston Jones, Tegan Jones, Tatum Jones, and Talynn Jones of Tonkawa; Sofia Farias, Ruby Farias, and Adrian Farias of Ponca City; and Ephraim Freese of Dallas, Texas.
Honorary casket bearers are Roland Jones, Bill Hellen, Louie Linton, Travis Jones, Jordan Jones, Dr. Patrick Gray, and Dr. Jeffuary Shuart.
A private memorial service will be held for the family, but everyone is invited to an open reception on Friday, June 6 from 2:30–4:30 PM at the Carolyn Renfro Center at 445 Fairview Ave. in Ponca City, Oklahoma. The family would love for you to share stories and memories of Danny. If you have pictures you’d like to share, feel free to bring those as well. The memorial is under the direction of Roberts Funeral Home in Blackwell, Oklahoma.
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