From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Neal Leon Cassady (February 8, 1926 – February 4, 1968) was a major figure of the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the psychedelic movement of the 1960s, perhaps best known for being characterized as Dean Moriarty in Jack Kerouac's novel On the Road. Description above from the Wikipedia article Neal Cassady, licensed under CC-BY-SA,full list of contributors on Wikipedia.