Jeffrey Alan Dine

God welcomed Home Jeffrey Alan Dine, age 54, peacefully on August 30th, 2022. Jeff courageously fought two cancers simultaneously, but his body just wasn’t able to continue the battle.

Jeff was upbeat and positive and showed a quick wit, as well as being King of the “Dad jokes” and one-liners. He made his nearly 7-year battle with metastatic Leiomyosarcoma look easy. He then developed Acute Myeloid Leukemia in 2021, which apparently had his number. Jeff liked to say that one aggressive metastatic cancer couldn’t do him in, so it called in reinforcements. Throughout his life, Jeff always had a “can do” (some may call “stubborn”) attitude, and he maintained it during his years with cancer.

He is survived by his beloved family: wife of 19 years Kelly, his sons Steven 25, Alex 23, and Aiden 17, his mother and father Barbara and Willis Dine, his brother and sister-in-law Bill and Debbie Dine, his nieces and nephew Erin, Emily, and Ben, and his mother-in-law Stasi Elliott. He will also be dearly missed by his adoring rescue dog Schwebel, and his lap cat Kitty, who adopted the family by refusing to leave the back porch 18 years ago.

Jeff was devoted to and immensely proud of his family. His wife Kelly was his love, best friend, and partner. He took deep personal pride in all of his family’s successes, and he was their biggest fan.

Jeff especially loved being a supportive father to his three boys. He was an assistant football coach for the Hudson Hawks for several years and a Little League T-Ball coach. For 18 years and counting, Jeff was spotted at the boys’ various baseball, football, soccer, and rugby games, cross country meets, band and jazz concerts, and any other opportunity where he could cheer them on with cow bells and his booming voice. He often referred to himself as the family pack mule, endlessly lugging sideline and bleacher chairs, camera bags, tripods, coolers, water bottles, sunscreen, bug spray, cowbells, and blankets without complaint.

Jeff’s humor was legendary. The boys opened their plastic Easter Eggs after the hunt to find things like an alcohol swab, a Pizza Hut crushed pepper packet, baby fingernail clippers, or a single cheese puff. Jeff loved to pick out unique gifts and was always up to the challenge of creatively wrapping them, like crowbars for his sons, because “every boy should have a crowbar.” Jeff made the annual viewing of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation a primetime event and cherished family tradition.


Born in Canton, Ohio, Jeff was raised in Paris, Ohio, and graduated from Minerva High School. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Walsh University and an MBA from the University of Akron. He loved working with his many friends and coworkers at Sterling Jewelers. Signet, not so much. Jeff grew at Sterling for 22 years with 6 promotions, eventually to Vice President. Jeff was a leader and a friend, not a manager or a boss.

A longtime advocate for all who battle diabetes, Jeff was a former board member at the American Diabetes Association, and a Call to Congress advocate for 4 years. He also gave back as a simulated patient for Northeast Ohio Medical University, helping pharmacy and medical school students to learn their life’s work.

Jeff enjoyed the country, farming, nature, and 4H, and won many 4H awards in his childhood. He found joy in being out in the yard landscaping and gardening. He also knew his way around the kitchen, creating his famous Daddy Burgers and other delicious dishes. He never met a cookie that he didn’t like, and he was an ice cream connoisseur, with French Vanilla his favorite. A lifelong Pittsburgh Steelers fan, he and Kelly raised their boys right to wear the black and gold.

Jeff was a real life “Clark Kent;” he defied the odds time and time again, battling back from repeated life-threatening complications and surgeries over the course of his cancer battle. He truly was Superman. Just a week ago, he helped Aiden haul a refrigerator up the basement stairs with a platelet level of zero and neutrophils too few to count (shh… don’t tell Dr. Mukherjee). While his life expectancy was frequently measured in just days or months, he clung to a desire to see Aiden graduate from high school. Now Jeff will have the best seat in the house for graduation, looking down from Heaven.

Many, many thanks to Dr. Mukherjee, his nurse Chondra Robinson, and the other leukemia staff at the Cleveland Clinic for their superb management of his AML. Many, many thanks to the OSU James Cancer Hospital for first saving Jeff’s life with a 28-hour surgery and superbly managing his LMS for almost 7 years, especially Dr. Liebner, Dr. Scharschmidt, Dr. Mendel, Beth Stevens, and Michelle Angelis. And many, many thanks to all of you for your words of support and prayers for Jeff and his family over the past years. Your prayers truly lifted him and helped him heal from major surgeries many times!

In Jeff’s memory, he asks you to donate blood at your local blood bank, or plant a tree or a shrub or flowers. Monetary donations may be sent to the American Diabetes Association or to Stewart’s Caring Place in Akron. Cancer may have battered his body, but it never took away his spirit, strength, willpower, and love.

Calling hours: Friday, 9/9/22, from 4 to 7 PM at Redmon Funeral Home, 3633 Darrow Road, Stow, OH 44224. The funeral service will be held on Saturday, 9/10/22, at 10 AM at the funeral home. Interment: Markillie Cemetery, 410 N. Main Street, Hudson, OH 44236 immediately following the service. A celebration of Jeff’s life will take place on Saturday, 9/10/22, from 1 to 5 PM at the St. Vincent - St. Mary HS Student Center, 15 N. Maple Street, Akron, 44303.