Dean E. Bretney ’77 was born in Los Angeles to Nancy and Jay Bretney. He graduated from Corning Union High School in 1973 and received a state scholarship to attend the honors program at SCU. He enjoyed many sports and was on the Santa Clara rowing team. He then attended UC Davis School of Law but left school for several years to help his parents with their Corning bookkeeping/tax business. In 1987, he joined the Matson and Isom Accounting Firm (now K. Coe Isom) in Chico, and never left. He enjoyed the challenging work and took great pride in doing an excellent job with honesty and integrity. Within a couple years Dean completed his law degree at UC Davis and became a tax attorney. In 1990, he met and married Joanne Shapiro. The family camped, hiked, and enjoyed trips to Legoland and many other adventures. Dean was an avid reader and could be found quite often at the library and the bookstore. Instilling the love of reading into his two sons was very important to him. He was also a music lover; Dean never went anywhere without his iPod. At age 64, he passed away peacefully at his home in Chico, California. Dean was predeceased by his three younger brothers, Rod, Drew, and Lee. He is survived by his wife, Joanne; his children, Douglas and Alan; his parents, Jay and Nancy of Oceanside, and several aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews.