Not only in athletics, but in all things pertaining to Lehigh University, Mr. Deans was a most loyal and enthusiastic son of his Alma Mater, both at college and after he had gone out into the world. He thoroughly appreciated the benefits derived from his technical training, and was so eager that others should share them, that early in his business career he advanced sufficient funds to two ambitious young men to carry them through Lehigh.
Immediately after graduation Mr. Deans entered the employ of Sooysmith and Company, the well-known foundation engineers and contractors. He rapidly advanced to positions of responsibility with this company, and, in 1895, became its Vice-President and Chief Executive Officer. When, a year or two later, Charles Sooysmith, M. Am. Soc. C. E., retired from active business, Mr. Deans organized, from the Sooysmith and Company staff, the Engineering Contract Company, of which he became President. Pressure of business seriously undermining his health, he was forced to give up temporarily all work in 1900, and to spend the next two years in the mountains of Northern Pennsylvania. On regaining his health, he associated himself with the firm of John Monks and Son, of New York City, and, at the time of his death, he was Second Vice-President of that company.
While under his executive charge, both Sooysmith and Company and the Engineering Contract Company, constructed a number of the most important bridge foundations in the United States, and the former firm first successfully introduced pneumatic work in the foundations of the modern high office buildings of New York City, notably the Manhattan Life, Washington Life, Standard Oil, and Empire Buildings on Lower Broadway. At the time of his death, Mr. Deans was in full charge of the building of the piers of the reconstructed Baltimore and Ohio bridge over the Susquehanna River, at Havre de Grace, Md.
In the early years of his connection with Sooysmith and Company, Mr. Deans was employed on work in the field, rising from subordinate positions to that of Superintendent in responsible charge of work. During this period he acquired an intimate and practical knowledge of foundation construction, and his subsequent career gave evidence of the value of this training. Being thus well-equipped, Mr. Deans soon became notable as a business engineer. His judgment on all substructure engineering problems was quick and keen, his thorough technical knowledge being supplemented by his penetrating practical sense. His business ability was of a high order, and his efficiency was largely increased by his industry and methodical habits. As a negotiator, he was in the first rank. His quick appreciation of the essentials in business transactions, his fertile resource in the most complicated financial dealings, his patience and persistence in the face of discouragement or delay, and his inflexible determination when once his decisions were reached, were qualities which placed him in the highest rank as a contracting engineer. To those with whom he came in close contact, Mr. Deans will always be remembered as exemplifying the ideal combination of technical training with business efficiency.
He lightened the seriousness of his business transactions with a quick sense of fun, a fondness for a good story, and an infectious good humor. His genuine interest in the work of his associates and his unfeigned delight in their success won him many friendships which lasted throughout his life and which now keep his memory warm in the hearts of those who were fortunate enough to know him intimately. Strong of will, keen and clear-sighted in business transactions, loyal to his friends and to the interests entrusted to him, he was, above all, a genial, honorable, many-sided man, who loved his fellow men.
Mr. Deans leaves a mother, Mrs. Charles W. Deans, of Phœnixville, Pa., a brother, John Sterling Deans, M. Am. Soc. C. E., Chief Engineer of the Phœnix Bridge Company, and two sisters, Mrs. R. Barclay Calley, of Seattle, Wash., and Mrs. Elmer E. Keiser, of Tacony, Pa.
In 1893, Mr. Deans married Miss Helen Arnold of West Chester, Pa., who, with two sons, Charles Woodbury, aged 15, and Malcolm Arnold, aged 13, survives him.
Mr. Deans was elected a Junior of the American Society of Civil Engineers, on December 3d, 1890, and an Associate Member on May 6th, 1896.