About Jim

Costumed as Collis P. Huntington, James E. Casto regularly appears at civic clubs, schools and other groups in a first-person program that offers a glimpse of the famed rail tycoon’s life and times.

Jim retired last year from The Herald-Dispatch, where he was a reporter and editor for more than 40 years. He is now senior public information specialist at the Robert C. Byrd Institute for Advanced Flexible Manufacturing.

A native of Huntington, he attended Bethany College at Bethany, W.Va., and is a graduate of Marshall University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a master’s degree in English.

Active in community affairs, he’s a board member with the United Way of the River Cities, Goodwill Industries, the Huntington Area Food Bank, the Tri-State Area Boy Scout Council, the Friends of the Cabell County Public Library, the Marshall University Library Associates and the West Virginia Faculty Merit Foundation.

He has taught both journalism and English as a part-time instructor at Marshall and has worked (on loan from The Herald-Dispatch) as a member of the editorial page staff at USA TODAY.

He’s a member of the Society of Professional Journalists and the National Society of Newspaper columnists. In addition to his newspaper work, he’s written more than a 150 freelance articles for magazines and newspapers and is the author of five books.

On his retirement, Marshall presented him with the John Marshall Medal of Civic Responsibility in recognition of his services to the university and the community.