Robert L. Dean, Jr. died peacefully in his sleep of natural causes on the morning of Sunday, April 9th at the home of his son Robert, III and his daughter-in-law Donna in Warren Pennsylvania.  He was 87.

Bob lived a wonderful and charmed life.  He was born in the small town of Byars, Oklahoma on October 13, 1929 where he lived until he attended Oklahoma Military Academy.  He then went on to graduate from the United States Military Academy at West Point, class of '53, after which he was commissioned in the United States Air Force, flying B-25s and T-29s.  Unable to fly after four years of service due to a minor medical condition that grounded him, he left the Air Force.  He worked for a short time on Wall Street before moving his family to Mexico in 1959 and founded a financial consulting business and published a financial newsletter.

For his 35th birthday his wife Helen, an artist, gave him a few pounds of modeling clay and said, "Here, see if you can make something with this".  He started sculpting and winning some national competitions and one day in 1966 he came home and announced, much to Helen's dismay, that he had sold his business, was becoming a full time sculptor, had obtained a commission to do a monument of General Douglas MacArthur, and the family (he, Helen and sons Robert and Noah) was moving to Florence, Italy so he could learn by studying the works of the great masters.

His sculpting career took off, and drawing from his West Point background, went on to primarily making statues of famous military figures.  His works include monuments at the USMA at West Point, NY; San Antonio, TX; Milwaukee, WI; the Eisenhower museum at Abilene, KS; London, England; and the American Cemetery in Normandy, France.  In addition he was a renowned pianist, having performed at the Nice Jazz Festival, and had plays he wrote produced in both Texas and England. One of his proudest moments was being nominated by his West Point classmates for the "Distinguished Graduate" award.

His wife Helen died in 1984, and a few years later met up again with his childhood sweetheart, Bonnie.  He and Bonnie spent over 25 wonderful years together, living in Oklahoma, Paris and London and traveling extensively throughout Europe and the United States.

In addition to Helen, he was preceded in death by his parents Robert and Lula Dean, but is survived by Bonnie, his younger son Noah, his elder son Robert, III, his granddaughters Elysia and Rebecca, his brother Gary, and numerous cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and step-grandchildren.

A memorial service and burial of his ashes will be planned at the USMA later this year.  In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Hospice of Warren County, PA or of Oklahoma City, OK, or to RettSyndrome.org in honor of his step-granddaughter Naomi Parish.

In a recent letter Bob wrote, "I have had an amazing life".  He will be missed.