Richard K. Dean

GLENS FALLS Local photographer Richard K. Dean passed away Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2008, at the age of 94, after a long illness. Richard was born in 1913, in Brooklyn, N.Y. He was the son of Walter and Clara Race Dean. His family moved to Glens Falls when he was 5 years old. For many years his father operated Dean's Pharmacy in Warrensburg. He attended Glens Falls public schools and graduated in 1931. Dick graduated from the College of Photography at Rochester Institute of Technology in 1935. In 1936, Dick married Madalene Langworthy. After graduation from RIT, Dick was employed from 1936 to 1947 by Defender Company in Rochester, working in film testing and as a technician for Chromatone, an early color separation process. During World War II, he headed the Defender's Sensitometry Department for government tests. For eight years while working in Rochester, Dick taught evening classed in color photography at R.I.T. Richard was always more interested in the pictorial rather than the technical aspect of photography, which led him to starting his own photography business in Glens Falls in 1947. His Adirondack scenes, whether on postcards, brochures or enlargement photographs have touched thousands of lives. His more than 60 years of photographing Glens Falls, Lake George and the Adirondacks are a visual history of our area. His work is a chronicle of the changes in upstate New York during the second half of the 20th century. Dick loved the outdoors, especially Lake George, which he always felt was the most beautiful lake in the world. Dick was predeceased by his wife, Madalene, his brother, Harold and his son-in-law, Stephen Kingsley. He is survived by his daughter, Shirley Bowie and her husband, Everett, of Tupper Lake' his daughter, Janice Kingsley of Glens Falls; his daughter, Nancy Paul and her husband, Peter, of Whitehall; his daughter, Wendy Chitty and her husband, Lou, of Lewis; 13 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. Funeral services will be conducted at 11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 16, at Christ Church United Methodist, Bay Street, Glens Falls. Burial will follow in Pine View Cemetery, Quaker Road, Queensbury. Friends may call from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 15, at Sullivan-Minahan & Potter Funeral Home, 407 Bay Road, Queensbury. The family suggests that memorial donations be made to the Lake George Association, P.O. Box 408, Lake George, NY 12845 or the Adirondack Mountain Club.