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Dean was born in Williamsport and moved to Fleetwood in Berks County at age four. After high school, he attended Kutztown State Teachers College, now Kutztown University, for two years before enrolling at the former Eckel's College of Mortuary Science in Philadelphia, where he graduated in 1959, earning the Dean’s Award. During college and while at mortuary school, Dean worked at Mae A. Stump Funeral Home. Dean served his internship at Fred F. Groff, Inc. Funeral Home in Lancaster. He worked there for three years before becoming employed for three years at the former Gundel Funeral Home, Inc., also in Lancaster, as a licensed supervisor.

Dean is married to the former Jill A. McHenry, whose family line includes Daniel McHenry, one of the first settlers in Northern Columbia County, settling in the Benton/Stillwater area in the late 1700s.

Dean is a member of the National Funeral Directors Association, Pennsylvania Funeral Directors Association, and the Central Pennsylvania Funeral Directors Association. He is also a member of the Oriental Lodge 460, F & AM, Orangeville and other Masonic organizations. Other memberships are the Bloomsburg Rotary Club and Columbia-Montour Torch Club. Dean is the past president and former secretary-treasurer of Central Pennsylvania Funeral Directors Association. He was president for two years and secretary-treasurer for 28 years. He has been president of both the Benton and Bloomsburg Kiwanis Clubs, the Columbia County Unit, American Cancer Society, and the Columbia County United Way. He is the oldest active and longest serving funeral director in the area.