Terrance Dean an author, former music industry professional, and later a professor has died. He was 53.
He was found after a wellness check to be unresponsive in his apartment by Denison University in Granville, OH where he was a professor of Black studies.
Dennison officials state Dean briefly spent time in a local hospital saying that he felt unwell. Columbus police did a wellness check this past Thursday and discovered him dead in his downtown home.
Dean joined Denison’s faculty in Granville in 2019 as an assistant professor in the Black Studies department. Dean was a graduate of Fisk University and afterward Vanderbilt University. He received his Ph.D. in Religion and African American Diaspora Studies.
In 2008, Dean wrote a controversial and successful book about DL men in the Hip-Hop community called Hiding in Hip-Hop. In the book, he gave examples of gay and bisexual men in the music industry but he mentioned no names, just events.
He appeared on several platforms to promote the book including The Breakfast Club. Dean is also the author of Mogul: A Novel, Straight from Your Gay Best Friend, and coauthor of Visible Lives.
He worked in the entertainment and music industry for 15 years before writing the book with stints at MTV, helping to produce live award shows and events including MTV Video Music Awards, Movie Awards, Hip-Hop Honors, Rock Honors, Sports & Music Festival, and Choose or Lose.
In the recent years of his life, Dean went back to school to get his Ph.D. and had a deep passion for Black studies and black history religion, and African American Diaspora Studies.
No word on services yet.
