Obituary: Stephen L. Cogil Casari, Founder of Tattered Cover Book Store

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Stephen Cogil Casari, who founded the Tattered Cover Book Store in 1970 in Denver, died in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on September 15, 2014, at the age of 66.

In 1970, Cogil Casari opened Tattered Cover in a 950-square-foot space on Second Avenue in Denver’s Cherry Creek neighborhood. In 1974, he sold the business to current owner Joyce Meskis and moved to Chicago, where he was a co-owner of Book Market, a 22-store chain that was sold to Waldenbooks in the 1980s.

Cogil Casari’s career included positions at the American Booksellers Association and Ingram and work as a book agent and book packager. He was a frequent instructor at ABA Bookseller Schools and a contributor to ABA Newswire and American Bookseller magazine.

He is survived by his ex-wife, Christine Cogil Casari, and stepdaughters Heather Ireland and Rebecca Ross and grandchildren Nicholas Ross and Stella and Rowan Ireland.

The Denver Post reported the cause of death as complications from cancer.

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