OpenCSV date parse

How about creating a copy of the Date property in your class definition? We've done something similar using BeanUtils

So, your Bean class contains

String dateString;
Date date;

public void setDateString(String dateString) {
     // This method can parse the dateString and set date object as well
}

public void setDate(Date date) {
     // Use this for JPA
}

Alternatively, you could use Super CSV, which has a cell processor API which would allow you to read the bean (without modifications) using the ParseDate processor for that column.