Dean died at the age of 79 at his home in Canton, Ohio, on Sept. 8, 2005. He was the youngest of ten children and only two survive him. His father died when he was ten, and Dean had to quit school early to support his mother. He was a hard-working individual all his life.

Dean was a member of the Mennonite Church and was drafted into Civilian Public Service in early 1945 from Louisville, Ohio, where his occupation at that time was listed as "Farmer."

During the war years he worked in mental hospitals and was a CPS-103 smokejumper at Missoula during the 1945 fire season where he got seven training and three fire jumps.