Charles Arthur "Skip" Kasdorf III
1943-2020
Skip Kasdorf was born in Chelsea, Mass., on August 6, 1943, and died in Houston on March 6, 2020. After graduating Rice University and earning master's degrees from Rice and Brandeis, he relished a career of nearly 36 years as an economist with the Houston Chamber of Commerce and its successor, the Greater Houston Partnership, retiring in 2010.
A past president of the American Chamber of Commerce Researchers Association (now the Council for Community and Economic Research) for 19 years, he directed and provided quality control for the organization's quarterly Cost of Living Index, which today provides intercity comparisons of living costs for some 250 U.S. cities. He also helped found and later served on the board of the Houston Chapter of the Texas Economic & Demographic Association.
In his research role at the Chamber, Skip was deeply involved in the Houston Region Census Statistical Areas Committee, which developed census tract and other small-area geography for the 1980, 1990, 2000, and 2010 censuses. For several years, he also served on the Texas State Data Center's review committee for its annual county and city estimates and projections of population and households.
For two decades, Skip produced the Partnership's monthly Houston: The Economy at a Glance, and throughout his career, he edited and produced Houston Facts, an annual compendium of information on the Houston region that grew from a four-page monochrome pamphlet to a glossy four-color coffee table volume.
Outside of his professional life, Skip was an avid reader and devotee of classical music, singing for nearly 10 years as a member of his church choir. A highlight of his life was being part of a choir invited to sing for 30 minutes before a 1993 service in the National Cathedral. A lover of the arts, he was a season subscriber at The Alley Theatre since the late 1960s and, since the 1990s, at Main Street Theater. He also was a long-time member of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Houston Museum of Natural Science.
Skip is survived by his son and daughter-in-law, Stephen and Veronica Kasdorf of Pearland, and his sister, Dr. Sally Catoe of Columbia, S.C.
A celebration of his life and interment of his ashes will be held at St. Mark's Episcopal Church, 3816 Bellaire Blvd., at 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 14, preceded by 15 minutes of organ preludes. The Rev. Patrick J. Miller, rector, will deliver the sermon; the Rev. Samantha Smith will serve as celebrant.