Casden was raised in a Jewish family, the son of a liquor wholesaler. He was bar mitzvahed at the Wilshire Boulevard Temple where he remains a member today. Casden began his academic career as history major, but he was drawn into Finance and accounting classes and eventually switched his educational focus to accounting. Casden enrolled at the University of Southern California as a sophomore after his freshman year at UCLA and graduated cum laude from USC's Leventhal School of Accounting in 1968, earning a Bachelor of Science and a Masters in Business Administration from USC.