Learn more about notable Dean Alumni.
Sidney and Stanley Goldstein | William (Bill) Green | Emile Baker Loring | Austin Barclay Fletcher | Walt Handelsman | Broderick Crawford | Richard Perry Williams | Eddie Grant | Daniel E. Sullivan | Grace Sun Tai | Famous Visitors
Sidney (1929-1995) and Stanley Goldstein (1934-2024) — Business
Sidney S. Goldstein and Stanley P. Goldstein were the founders of CVS Pharmacy and the Healthcare Company. The Goldsteins were from Woonsocket, Rhode Island. They both attended Dean College in 1947 and 1951, respectively. As of 2015, CVS was ranked 35th in the Fortune Global 500 list of the world's largest companies and was the 9th largest company in the United States. In 2015, CVS had 7,800 pharmacies, 137,800 employees, and over $153 billion in revenue. Both brothers have been recognized in the Hall of Fame induction because of the success and prominence of their business creations.
William (Bill) Green (1953-present) — Business
William “Bill” D. Green (1953) was an American business executive. He grew up in Hampden, Massachusetts and graduated from Dean Junior College in 1974. He then later attended Babson College. At Babson, he received a degree in economics and an MBA not long after. He served as Executive Chairman of Accenture Management Consultants worldwide and was a key figure in the spin-off of Anderson Global Cooperative, which led to the merger of Accenture. The Green Family Library Learning Commons at Dean College is dedicated to Bill and his son, David Green--also a Dean alumnus.
Emile Baker Loring (1866-1951) — romance novelist
Emilie Baker Loring was a twentieth-century American author of romantic fiction. Loring was born in Boston in 1866. She grew up in a literary family (her grandfather, Albert Baker, was the original founder of the Boston Herald newspaper). Patti Bender of Washburn University described the Baker family in "The Bakers of Boston: 100 Years of Forgotten Best Sellers". As a child, Emilie often spent weekend mornings reading books and some manuscripts at the firm's publishing house. She attended Dean Academy in September of 1881.
Emilie married Victor J. Loring, a Boston lawyer. Loring’s interests in civic, ecclesiastical, and legal matters broadened Emilie's outlook on life. While their son attended prep school, Victor encouraged Emilie to fulfill her literary ambitions. In 1914, at the age of 50, Emilie wrote her first serial, The Key to Many Doors. This would be followed by six more serials that made Loring a best-selling author. According to her biography, “The Bantam Publishing Co., New York City, considers her one of the leading romanticists in the country. They now print 27 of her 44 books and they plan to add others soon...they have 9 million copies of her books ready to deliver.” She had a very artistic writing style, often describing settings, buildings, clothes, food, and characters' physical features in precise and colorful detail. Her special interest was wholesome love stories. For her, honor, beauty, ideals, happiness, and respect for law and justice were just as real as misery, inferiority, and vicious self-indulgence, a tribute to Mrs. Loring's beliefs. All her novels have been translated into several languages, and some have even been produced in Braille.
When she passed away in 1951, one of her sons wrote to Dean, “I think some of the outstanding qualities I know of her can be attributed to Dean because she talked about it so often as if she enjoyed it so much.”
Austin Barclay Fletcher (1852-1923) — lawyer and businessperson
Austin B. Fletcher, A.M., L.L.D. was a successful businessperson and lawyer. Fletcher was born in Mendon, Massachusetts, on March 13, 1852. His parents, Asa A. Fletcher and Harriet (Durkes) Fletcher were residents of Franklin and had worked at Dean Academy as butler and housekeeper in the school's boarding department. Fletcher attended Dean Academy and later went to Tufts College. He graduated from Tufts in 1876 with an A. B. and later received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Tufts in 1899. In 1879, he graduated from Boston University Law School. From 1880-1882 he served as Professor of Education on the Dean faculty and the Board of Trustees from 1909-1923. In 1894, he helped contribute to the Fletcher swimming pool in the old gymnasium. He also established the Fletcher Prizes to honor Dean's highest-achieving students. Upon his death in 1923, he willed his entire estate to Tufts College, his Alma Mater. The estate was estimated at $3-4 million at the time of his death. The Fletcher Fund of Franklin, the Fletcher School at Tufts, and many other bequests commemorate him.
Walt Handelsman (1956-present) — journalism, editorialS, cartoonist
Walt Handelsman was an editorial cartoonist for The Advocate in Louisiana. He has twice won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning, once in 1997 with the Times-Picayune and again in 2007 for Newsday. Handelsman was born in Baltimore, Maryland and graduated from Dean Junior College with an associate degree in Art Therapy in 1977. He later attended the University of Cincinnati in 1979. He began his professional career in 1982 at a chain of thirteen Baltimore and Washington, D.C., suburban weeklies. This position would last until 1985. He worked at The Scranton Times (Pennsylvania) from 1985 to 1989 and The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, Louisiana) from 1989 to 2001. He joined Newsday, based on Long Island, New York. He wrote seven collections of his editorial cartoons and a children's book published in 1995.
Broderick Crawford (1911-1986) — academy award winning actor
William Broderick Crawford (1911 – 1986) was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He attended Dean Academy as a member of the class of 1931 where he showed a talent for acting. According to The Story of Dean by Augustus F. Jones, "As a student, Broderick Crawford trod this stage (the Morse Theater, now the Cinema) from 1929-1931 under the supervision of Miss Bailey and Miss Harrison (Bourret)."
Crawford would go on to become an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Willie Stark in the film All the King's Men (1949), which earned him an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award. Often cast in tough-guy roles, he later achieved recognition for his starring role as Dan Mathews in the crime television series Highway Patrol (1955–1959).
Richard Perry Williams — athleticS and coaching
R. P. Williams was a talented player and famous coach. Williams, a native of England, attended Dean Academy from 1892 to 1895. His time at Dean was marked by his impressive athletic prowess. He scored 138 touchdowns in 46 games for the football team and captained the ice hockey team for four undefeated seasons. After Dean, he won 14,657 handball games without a single defeat. In 1912, he beat Jim Thorpe in 19 track events and had better times in all decathlons. He ran the 100-yard dash in nine seconds. This feat led to Jim Thrope calling the Willaims “the fastest sprinter ever.” Settling in Ohio, Willams and coached a local high school basketball team through five national championships and thirty-seven state championships.
Eddie Grant (1883-1918) — lawyer, professional baseball player, U.S. solider during WWI
Eddie Grant was born on May 21, 1883, in Franklin, Massachusetts. After graduating from high school in 1901, Grant attended Dean College for a year (1901-1902), then enrolled at Harvard University, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1905 and a law degree in 1909. Eddie Grant started his professional baseball career in 1905, playing as an infielder in the Major Leagues from 1905 to 1915. He played in the 1913 World Series with John McGraw's legendary New York Giants. The New York Times described his appearance as a pinch runner in the tenth inning of the second game: “‘Attorney’ Eddie Grant came through from second base like the Twentieth Century Limited traveling past a flag station, he scored, winning the game for the Giants.” Sportswriters called him “Attorney Grant” or “Harvard Eddie.” In an era when many ballplayers were illiterate, Grant's unusual academic pedigree became his distinguishing characteristic.
Smithsonian Magazine in Oct 2004 recorded, "At age 33 in 1917, the Harvard-trained lawyer and Major League baseball player Eddie Grant volunteered to serve in World War I. He fought as he'd played: selflessly." Grant became a captain in the 77th Division and was one of eight Major League Baseball players who were killed in action or died of disease while serving in the Armed Forces during WWI. Dean College has engraved Grant's name on a monument on campus, and one of the fields at Dean College was named Grant Field in his honor.
Daniel E. Sullivan, LL. B. — coachING
Daniel E. Sullivan, LL. B. attended Dean Academy in 1906 where he distinguished himself in football and baseball. He attended the University of Syracuse where he further enhanced his athletic and scholastic abilities. He left Syracuse with a degree in law.
In 1910, Sullivan became the athletic director at Dean. His 27-year tenure was marked by his outstanding mentorship of several great sports figures. As a result, the fame of Dean's team spread through the athletic world for three decades. So powerful were his teams that college and service academy freshman teams often succumbed to the red-clad cohorts of Dean Academy. According to The Awpie 1921, the 1920 football season was not as successful for Dean as it could have been, but under Coach Sullivan's guidance, the team played one of the hardest schedules ever attempted by the Academy. In a game against the Dartmouth 24, Dean drew first blood and managed to hold the machine that had run rough-shod over opponents to a close score. At the end of the 1920 season, Sullivan awarded 22 letters at the end of the season, which proved that interest shown in the game to be better than ever before. The 1920's basketball team also had a great season. Coach Sullivan rounded out a winning baseball machine that opened the season with a win over Assumption College. The team had trouble against Yale's first-year team, losing 9-5. However, they picked up wins over Andover and Harvard '24. Sullivan led Dean's sport teams to greatness.
Sun Yat Sen’s daughter at Dean
Grace Sun, who attended the class of 1918, was the daughter of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the first president of China. After leaving Dean Academy, Grace married Mr. Eu Sai Tai and the two lived together in Tung Shan, Canton, China, and later moved to Hong Kong. Grace stayed connected with Dean, often sending greeting cards from China. Dean College kept the above Christmas card, which came from Hong Kong by Grace Sun Tai.
Famous Visitors
The fiftieth-anniversary celebration in 1916 was honored by former President William H. Taft as the principal speaker. Lieutenant Governor (and future president) Calvin Coolidge also gave an address on behalf of the state of Massachusetts.
The main event of the celebration was the speech given by Taft. The ex-president held the close attention of the gathering, making a profound impression. It was forcefully delivered and punctuated with characteristic humor and delineative story, his subject being 'The Duties of Citizenship’.