John W. Dean III, 80, mortician

John Wesley Dean III, 80, the fourth-generation owner of a Philadelphia funeral home, a lawyer, and a nationally prominent Shriner, died of Parkinson's disease Feb. 12 at his home in Largo, Fla.

His daughter, Katharine Mervine, said the original firm, John W. Dean Funeral Director, was founded in 1883 in Fox Chase. Dean's son, Warren, was followed by John W. Dean Jr. and then Mrs. Mervine's father.

In the mid-1980s, she said, the firm, still in Fox Chase, was sold and now operates as Dean Geitner Givnish Funeral Homes.

Mr. Dean grew up in the Lawndale neighborhood of Philadelphia and graduated from the Greenbrier Military School in West Virginia in 1946, Gettysburg College in 1948, and the Dolan mortuary school in Philadelphia in 1949.

From 1950 to 1952, he was an engineer for the Army chemical corps at the Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland, and he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1957.

In 1958, his daughter said, Mr. Dean established a law firm in Langhorne. In 1977, he left the firm, which had become Dean & McCoy, and at his death was of counsel to Howland Hess, a law firm in Huntingdon Valley.

Through the 1960s and 1970s, Mr. Dean was solicitor for several entities in Bucks County, including Bensalem and Middletown Townships, the county board of health, and the county water and sewer authority, his daughter said.

Mr. Dean worked for the funeral firm before entering law school, and "in 1969, still an active partner of Dean & McCoy, he returned to the family funeral business as president," his daughter said.

A 33d-degree Mason, he joined Lu Lu Shrine Temple, now in Plymouth Meeting, in 1952.

In 1991, he was elected to the Shriners' highest national office, Imperial Potentate, becoming board chairman for Shriners hospitals, which now number 22.

Like all others who earn that title, his daughter said, Mr. Dean had served a 13-year apprenticeship, taking a higher title each year as he climbed toward the top.

"He served way more than full time for those 13 years," she said, traveling "as a liaison from the national headquarters to the local Shrine temples."

He also founded and was president of the Fox Chase-Rockledge Professional and Business Men's Association and the Fox Chase-Rockledge Community Action Council and was a member of the Northeast Philadelphia Chapter of the American Cancer Society.

Besides his daughter, Mr. Dean is survived by his wife of 58 years, Katharine; sons John W. IV and Warren; a sister; and six grandchildren.

A life celebration was held Monday.