The Sage of Hastings-on-Hudson: The Wit and Wisdom of Ron Cascone

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In New York, Ronald F. Cascone died on Friday, March 5th from complications of COVID and after a long battle with esophageal cancer. He was 77. Cascone was known around the world as one of the foremost authorities on the advanced bioeconomy, an acerbic critic of cant, pettifoggery and hype and a champion of emerging technology.

A chemical engineer by training, he was a principal in the Nexant energy consulting practice (and its predecessors) for more than 30 years, after many years at Scientific Design Company. In the past 10 years he graced the ABLC stage many times, often as a member of the Due Diligence Wolfpack. He leaves behind his wife, Judith, daughters Kristina, Elena, and Gabriella; his brother Peter Cascone and nephews Alex and Max Cascone; sons-in-law Thomas Bracken and Geno Donnelly; and grandchildren Brielle and James Donnelly.

In recent years, he fought off a series of illnesses with little complaint: stomach and esophageal cancer, an arachnoid cyst on his spinal column, and a MRSA infection which cost him a toe. His great gifts were a rare ability to mentor, a ready wit, generosity of spirit, and a skill in calling balls and strikes in advanced technology that in baseball would have landed him at Cooperstown in the Hall of Fame.

Though work called him to the east side of Westchester, just north of New York City, home was on the west side of the county, in Hastings-on-Hudson, on the bluffs above the Hudson River, ....

But his commitment to a transitioning economy made him nobody’s fool, and he never let his heart interfere with conclusions drawn from hard data. In that sense, he was everything that an engineer should be.

Washington Irving also wrote that “the natural effect of sorrow over the dead to to refine and elevate the world,” and in that spirit, I offer up a sampling of Ron Cascone’s wit and wisdom over the years, not previously published. READ MORE