Support the Family of Daniel Casanova

On July 2, the world lost a truly remarkable human being: Daniel Casanova. We are a small group of Daniel's close friends hoping to support Daniel's family—Lori, Dante, Jobill, Lucille-Vickie—during this tragedy. To know Daniel, was to have loved him, but for those who never had the chance to meet him, his brothers' (James and Alec) description of him captures his truly incredible spirit:

"There once lived a dreamer; a musician, adventurer, philosopher, and philanthropist; speaker of a dozen languages, pirate on the Indian ocean, endurance swimmer, king of pickup basketball, and bald guy with a scratchy beard. In East Africa, he was known as Loserian (Maa for “the one who blesses”). In other parts of the world, he was known simply as Daniel. 

The lore of Daniel began at home, where he was born under a rainbow on December 10, 1979. He had a typical 90’s childhood: Tony Hawk haircut, guitar, skateboard, Super Nintendo. After high school, he left home to travel the world. Daniel bummed his way across continents, hitchhiking on train boxcars and riding a bike across the Saharan desert, crossing as many borders illegally as possible and nearly dying who knows how many times. He survived a violent bar fight over a game of pool in Australia and a bus that flipped over on windy roads in India. He caught dengue fever in Cambodia and was nursed back to health in a Buddhist monastery outside Angkor Wat. He once woke up his entire hostel with night terrors hopping around the courtyard yelling that he lost his leg. He was nearly arrested as an unknowing accessory to drug trafficking in Thailand, sentenceable by death. He lived in Bangladesh for 9 months, building a traditional Bangladeshi sailboat with a few friends and locals. He set sail in the middle of the night (to evade the coast guard) with some chickens, a few bags of rice, and the delusional hopes of making it to Australia 4,000 miles away. They were subsequently lost in a storm, shipwrecked, and rescued by a Russian commercial tanker off the coast of Myanmar.

Daniel eventually came home, grew up, and settled down in Petaluma, California. He raised a son, Dante Casanova, future track phenom and computer whiz, who shares Daniel’s wonder and curiosity about the world. He found his soulmate, Lori Byrum Casanova, synchronized swimming champion, and had two more kids: Jobill Byrum Casanova, wrestling prodigy and video game aficionado and Lucille-Vickie Byrum Casanova, dancer and future influencer.

His passion for helping poor people around the world led him to Global Partners for Development where he worked as Executive Director and then board member for almost 12 years. His organization partnered with others in East Africa to achieve sustainable improvements in nutrition, clean water, health, education and economic self-reliance. Daniel had an open mind, an accepting heart, and a deep appreciation for cultures that allowed him to form strong relationships across the world. His face would be recognized in many poor East African communities, in places you can’t find on Google Maps. Places like Ormani and Emanyata Secondary School where he funded water and education projects, and Arkaria where he and his life companion Lori were given a traditional Maasai wedding ceremony in 2018.

In 2024, Daniel became Executive Director of Eviction Defense Collaborative in San Francisco where he worked to provide rental assistance, legal assistance in an eviction, and advocacy for shelter clients to a city that is transforming and pushing the edge in both technology and culture, but also a city in need. Daniel wanted to help those in need and to allow this beautiful chaotic city to thrive.

If you are having trouble telling fact from fiction, then you know what it was like to know Daniel Casanova. Daniel was larger than life; a man with unbounded confidence, infinite energy, wild ideas, and a kind soul. His massive ego was surpassed only by his masterful bullshitting skills. His one true superpower, though, was his ability to connect to people. Daniel had a contagious enthusiasm and passion for life that was built on a foundation of love and acceptance for everyone. He was able to connect to people because his radiant love made others feel special.

13.8 billion years ago the universe exploded into existence with the big bang, 375 million years ago the first fish left the ocean and ventured onto land, and on July 2nd, 2025, Daniel flew too close to the sun. In some other parallel universe Daniel lives on, planning his swim across Lake Tahoe, working to keep people housed in SF, raising superhuman children, and ruling the basketball court with a killer old man 3-point shot. Sadly for us, we don’t live in that universe. But, there are many more parallel universes where Daniel is at the bottom of the Indian ocean or, worse yet, never existed at all. Fortunately in our universe, Daniel lives on in spirit. He lives on through the organizations he gave his time to, his family and children, and in the hearts of all those whom he touched and inspired around the world. We are grateful for the time we did have with him and for the singular opportunity to glimpse the legend and the man himself, Daniel Casanova."

James Casanova and Alec Berg

July 2025