Jim Dean grew up in St. Thomas, attending St. Thomas C.I. After graduation from university, he spent many years at Central Technical School in Toronto, serving as director of mathematics and later as principal.
Along with J.T. Crawford and W.A. Jackson, he wrote a middle school algebra textbook that was widely used in Ontario for many years. He was also co-author of the “Dean and Moore” mathematics textbooks for general level students. In fact, his co-author was his wife, Gertrude Moore.