About Deane
Deane plays the piano and other keyboards entirely by ear and does not read music. In his twenties, he regularly entertained people with visual impairments with his piano playing. Using the raised keys as a type of Braille, he found he could teach piano to those in the audience who were interested. His first album, On the Black Keys and by Ear, was produced to raise money for the blind. After his first album, Deane entertained repeatedly in Europe, where he met and played for Hollywood legend, Greta Garbo.
Deane started his career as a lawyer, practising commercial law first with a firm and then on his own. He was also involved with the investment business, co-founded an investment management firm and wrote an illustrated history, Dry Goods & Pickles, The Story of Nesbitt, Thomson [now BMO Nesbitt Burns].
He has served as a director on 16 boards, 7 of them health-related and non-profit, and presently is a member of a board of Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore.
Because of the many benefits of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), Deane and cofounder Daniel Gericke have organized a company, Gericke-Nesbitt Inc., to provide hyperbaric services in Ontario. It carries on business as Gericke-Nesbitt Regenerative Medicine and Halton Hyperbarics and highlights nature and music to put patients at ease. His music helps contribute to the tranquil atmosphere of the clinic.
Deane has degrees in Arts and in Law from McGill University, a certificate in Fundamentals of Hyperbaric Medicine from Simon Fraser University and a certificate from the Owner-President Management Program, Harvard Business School.
He was born in Montreal and now lives in Toronto. A family man, his other interests have included hiking, kayaking, landscape painting, photography and flying.