Shaun Cassidy Tributes Late Brother David Cassidy on What Would Have Been His 75th Birthday: ‘I Miss Him’

In a new post, Shaun Cassidy recalled childhood memories with late big brother David Cassidy on what would have been his 75th birthday.

“When David came to visit us on the weekends, my mother always made it a priority to celebrate him,” Shaun, 66, captioned a throwback photo with his brother on Instagram on April 12. “She knew how difficult it was for a kid to be shuttled back and forth between two households, and she never wanted David to feel like he was a guest or a ‘half-brother’ in our home.”

“There were no better nights than when David came to sleep over, and no better mornings than those spent walking around Westwood, dining at ‘Ships’ coffee shop, and then riding the ponies at Beverly Park,” the singer continued. “Before my younger brothers were born, these were the happiest days of my childhood because I got to share them with my big brother, Dave. God, I miss him. Happy Birthday pal. #DavidCassidy.”

“Happy birthday to him!! He was a gift to the world,” one person commented on the post, as another person said, “How he adored you @officialshauncassidy and he was one of the funniest people on the planet with such a giggle. He is deeply missed.”

David died in 2017 from organ failure. David was born to Jack Cassidy and his first wife, Evelyn Ward, in 1950. Shaun was born to Jack and his second wife, Shirley Jones, in 1958. Jack also welcomed sons Patrick and Ryan Cassidy with Shirley.

Shaun recently spoke out about growing up with a famous family and losing his father in a 1976 house fire. Jack was 49 years old at the time of his death.

“I mean our father died when I was 18, Patrick was 14, Ryan was 10, and my older brother David, we were estranged, which was rough, but in a strange way, his loss bonded us,” Shaun said during an episode of the “Sibling Revelry” podcast in February. “I literally remember the day he died, the four of us hugging and crying and sort of forging this, like, ‘he will live in us.’ It wasn’t said, but that was the feeling, and it’s been an actual experience. We are now all well, David has passed, but Patrick, Ryan and I are all older than my dad was when he died. We see each other and see our father.”

While leading a successful career of his own as a teen idol, actor and singer, Shaun confessed that his celebrity status got to be too much.

“I don’t really love the life of being a public figure,” the New Amsterdam producer said. “I liked sitting alone in a room thinking and making the stuff up. I was the most reluctant famous person, and some of the choices I made reflect that, because I was offered all kinds of things that probably would have been great if you wanted a big [career]. I didn’t. I just knew the minute I became famous, it was like, ‘OK, I’m not going to be known as his son or her son or his brother or whatever. I’m going to be known as me now, and now I’m going to go hide in my room for like ten years and think about what I really wanna do.’”