Dean Wanamaker

Dean A. Wanamaker, age 68 of Ringwood, and formerly of Tuxedo, NY and Oakland, passed away peacefully on Friday, November 30, 2018.

Dean was born in Hackensack and raised in Ramsey. He was a graduate of Ramsey High School, Class of 1968. Thinking that he wanted to work in the field of accounting, he applied and was accepted to Bentley College, a school of accountancy in Waltham, Massachusetts. During his years at Bentley his interests changed to the field of law enforcement. He pressed through and earned a Bachelor’s degree in accounting but, upon his return home Dean took his first job with the Bergen County Prosecutors Office. Working alongside the FBI and U.S. Marshalls he was involved in many facets of law enforcement including but not limited to numerous organized crime investigations, and the extradition of fugitives. In particular, his extradition work involved extensive travel to varied destinations and, no matter where he went, his daughter and two sons will always remember how Dean would bring them back gifts that were unique to the area where he was working. Dean always derived great satisfaction from his twenty-five year career and, after retiring in 2000 as a Sergeant Detective, he tried to be a bum for a few years but eventually got too antsy and took a job in the maintenance department of Columbia Bank of Fair Lawn. Retiring fully in 2012, he resigned from that position so that his son could take over his job.

Dean’s three kids meant the world to him. They’ll always have great memories of their father taking them fishing on the lakes in Ringwood, going on vacation to Hilton Head in South Carolina, and going to the shooting range in Upstate, NY. He did his best to teach them to be independent and value the most important things of life by teaching them that it was more important to give them what they needed as opposed to always giving them what they wanted. As adults they enjoyed great camaraderie with Dean, frequently busting his chops for all kinds of things which he received in a good-natured spirit. Dean’s adoration for his kids was only matched by his love for his grandchildren. Unlike his own kids, they could do anything they wanted and it was perfectly ok with Papa Dean. The grandkids would always want to go to see Papa Dean because he’d let them play video games, kill zombies, watch scary movies, shoot BB guns, and all the while, he’d sugar them up with Twinkies and other no-good-for-you treats.

Dean was not one to sit still. Even in his retirement years, he was always up with the birds and ready to go. He was the type of guy who’d be out at 7:30 AM cutting his grass. He needed to start that early because his goal was always to have his yard as pristine as possible, and that took time and effort. And after the grass was cut, no one was allowed to walk on it. Very handy, he could fix anything and he did all the maintenance on his own house, and he enjoyed volunteering his time with the Skyline Lake Association maintaining the pristine quality of the water. Dean also loved to fish and go deer hunting. Consequently, venison was always in good supply in the Wanamaker house. When his daughter Kelly was little, she never liked the idea of eating venison so he would playfully try to fool her by telling her it was steak. A great means of enjoyment was taking his family out to dinner. Growing up, his kids didn’t like it so much because Dean always took so long and they didn’t want to sit in the restaurant all night. Dean however liked to use this dinner occasions to teach his kids patience – first a drink, then an appetizer, then a salad, now the main course, surely followed up by an after-dinner drink, then coffee and dessert. His favorite place to eat was The Timbers in Oakland.

On a quiet evening at home with just his easy chair and the remote, Dean would spend the night watching the History Channel, the National Geographic Channel and NBC News. In fact, his kids recall that when they were growing up and Dean was watching NBC News with Tom Brokaw, they had to be quiet because “This is important.” More recently, much of that time spent watching the news was spent with his faithful companion named Sweet Pea – a sweet little Toy Yorkie that Dean’s daughter Kelly sprung upon him one day. At the time, he was upset that she brought a dog into the house, but he grew to love Sweet Pea so much that, when Kelly got married and wanted to take the dog to live with her, Dean said “No way!, She’s mine!”

Dean will always be remembered for his matter-of-fact approach to life. There was no guessing what Dean ever really felt because he would just tell you the way he saw the situation. Even upon being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer this past July, he took the news for what it was and took the approach that this was just the way life is. Dean was a remarkable person who touched the lives of everyone that knew him and he will be sincerely missed.

Dean was the loving father of Kelly and husband James Engels of Ringwood, Kyle and wife Leana Wanamaker of Paterson, and Eric and wife Felicia Wanamaker of Vernon; cherished grandfather of Colton, Hunter, and Axel; dear uncle of Craig and wife Jackie Wanamaker; and dear great-uncle of Evan and Alexa.

In lieu of flowers, those planning an expression of sympathy in Dean’s name are asked to consider the Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research, 415 Crossways Park Drive, Suite D. Woodbury, NY 11797 or online at www.lustgarten.org/donate