Article: Casey Banas, 64, longtime reporter

A newspaperman who didn't become a cynic, Casey Banas covered education for the Chicago Tribune for more than 30 years, using his beat to prospect for the good in people.

"He had this big smile on his face" when he could write school stories that might inspire kids to do better, said his colleague, Tribune reporter Ron Kotulak.

Mr. Banas, 64, died when he was struck by a train shortly after 11:30 p.m. Sunday in Naperville on the Burlington Northern/Santa Fe Railroad tracks at River Road.

He loved being able to inspire kids to do better by writing about their successes. "He was the happiest doing that," said Kotulak, who started at the Trib on the same day that Mr. Banas did, June 15, 1959.

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