The Dean of Avalon: Dick Dean Played Huge Role in Borough's Quality of Life & Resiliency
He is a symbol of a golden age.
Dick Dean helped orchestrate one of the best – and most transformative – administrative eras in Avalon borough history. His strong, steady guidance marked a recently concluded Borough Council career dating back to 1987. Dean served six terms as council president and provided longtime service on various committees, including Public Safety, Public Works, and Planning/Zoning.
In varied roles, he was always in the middle of the process but never an attention seeker.
“He’s not one of these people who has to say a lot,” says Ed Dean, his son and the borough’s fire chief, fire official and safety coordinator. “But when he speaks, it is usually profound. An administrator recently told me that when your dad speaks, people listen.”
Dean can savor it all with one look around town: the new police station, firefighting equipment, sports fields, clean-water treatment, and, perhaps his signature, the fortified beach. Dean was part of a group that successfully lobbied Washington for the beach-replenishment funds that became crucially important after the effects of Superstorm Sandy and a spate of seasonal tropical storms that tear down dunes, a cover for beachfront homes.
A smile comes to his face recalling this role. It was a nice achievement, an administrative version of being selected to a traveling all-star team and bringing home a trophy. One of those stories that never gets old, only richer.
About 25 years ago, borough officials addressed a frustrating situation in the nation’s capital. Federal money had been appropriated for beach-fill projects but would not be allocated without someone fighting for it. Dean, Mayor Martin Pagliughi and others campaigned on Avalon’s behalf and completed a difficult application process. There were a number of trips and a process that could be tedious. But the funds followed.
“We tried to pound it into their heads that we were not just protecting the people with homes on the beach,” Dean recalls. “The cost of beach replenishment was nothing compared to what could happen in a disaster. Without the beaches, you don’t have the tourism. Without the homeowners and the businesses, you can’t protect your tax rate.”
Seven Mile Beach officials point out that a damaged beach curtails tourism and that beachfront homeowners pay enough in taxes to shield others from a dramatic tax hike if the beachfront properties were not there. That belief increases the closer one gets to the shore; the concept often cannot be grasped elsewhere.
“It’s great that we have maintained the tax rate and completed so many beach-fill projects,” Dean says. “Knowing that is a great reward. We have been given thanks along the way not only by the residents but the people coming in from out of state.”
And from within. Pagliughi, another major force in the Washington effort, hails Dean’s efforts.
“Dick has left a legacy of public service in the Borough of Avalon for which the public will benefit for generations to come,” says Pagliughi, who ran for council with Dean in 1987. “Dick has been very active in some of the most important projects in Avalon’s history and is directly responsible for many quality-of-life and resiliency initiatives that make the borough one of the premier residential and vacation destinations along the East Coast.”
Dean’s journey is all about family, service and business. He is a lifelong resident of Cape May County, and has lived in Avalon since age 4. Dean joined the Army and served two years of active duty as well as four years in the reserves. He became head of the Avalon Volunteer Fire Department “because it seemed like somebody had to do it” and would serve for 21 years. He remains a lifetime member of the Avalon Volunteer Fire Department and a member of the New Jersey State Fireman’s Association.
He has operated Richard Dean Plumbing and Heating in town since 1968. Dean’s life marks a rare journey throughout one location. The 83-year-old father, grandfather, husband, business owner and public servant has been an integral part of the borough landscape, to the point of shaping it.
One colleague who appreciated his ambassador role was Dr. Nancy Hudanich, who, as a council member since 1989, has worked closely with him. Hudanich also has served several terms as president, and, along with Chuck Covington, been credited with much of the borough’s solid economic footing. She sees something more than finance regarding Dean.
“What struck me when I first got onto council was his absolute knowledge of Avalon,” Hudanich says. “Dick, to me, was the historian of the whole town and could see it through the eyes of a resident, through the eyes of a family person and as someone who, in my opinion, built the Dean Dynasty.
“To move forward with Avalon, you must know the history, and when I needed to learn more, I went to him. I have also been in awe of his professionalism and dedication. Dick understood the importance of the beaches and protecting them as assets. He made those trips to Washington, D.C.”
Hudanich notes Dean’s preparation for meetings by reading documents ahead of time and conducting himself as “a gentleman, a gentleman, a gentleman.”
One of Dick Dean’s final projects enabled Avalon to offer a $100 stipend for firefighters to stay overnight and be on call should the situation arise. The borough’s prosperity, ironically, has made it nearly impossible for young people to purchase a home and thus serve here. The stipend program allows for some immediate firefighting personnel.
An irony surrounds Dean’s home, and is one of his defining characteristics.
“Dad has always been representing the borough, not himself,” Ed says. “The zoning regulations require sufficient space between homes. Under the rules he helped put in place, my Dad made his own home nonconforming.”
Dick and his wife Liz, whom nearly everyone called Jane, were married 54 years before she passed away in 2015. The couple had four children and Dick has seven grandchildren. His hobbies have included fishing, crabbing, planting and metal-detection hunting on the beach “for the elusive pirate gold,” Ed says.
The pirate gold may be elusive, but in terms of how he is perceived, Dick Dean hit the jackpot long ago.
