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About Dean Vogel


Family Background

Born and raised in West Springfield, Dean is the youngest of six boys. He comes from a family long on public service and credits his strong family values and blue collar ethic to his late parents, Robert J Vogel, Sr. and Barbara (Lanphear) Vogel. Bob & Barbara were together for 63 years and instilled in their children the importance of faith, a strong family unit, hard work and the value of a dollar.

His late father, Robert J. Vogel Sr., was a firefighter in town for 25 years, served on the Park & Recreation Commission and was a WW II Navy Veteran stationed in Germany. Four of Dean’s five older brothers served in the military and two are retired West Springfield policemen.

Dean and his wife Lori will celebrate their 20th anniversary this October. Together they have two children, Natalie age 15 and Dean Jr. age 11. Both attend West Springfield Public Schools. They reside in West Springfield.

Dean’s Political Experience

Dean’s involvement in local politics began in 1984, when he started working on his fathers campaign for the Park & Recreation Commission and later for Selectman. He continued to work on local and state campaigns throughout the years. While attending Westfield State College, Dean met Don Humason, who at the time was Director of Legislative Affairs of the Executive Office of Health & Human Services in Boston.

Inspired by Mr. Humason’s passion for public service, the two kept in contact and later became friends. In 2002, Don, a Republican, was elected to the House of Representatives. “I remember seeing Don holding a sign in the pouring rain in downtown Westfield, and though I couldn’t vote for him because I was not from his district, I still wanted to support him, so I parked my car and stood out in the rain with him and just talked about politics for a while.”

From 2003-2004, Dean began an internship and worked for Representative Humason at his District office located in Westfield. Dean also traveled to the State House with the Representative to assist him in his Boston office during the Constitutional Convention.

In 2004, Dean ran for State Representative for the 6th Hampden District. Dean is also member of the West Springfield Republican Town Committee.

Dean’s Professional & Educational Background

Dean has 12 years of health care experience working in Home IV Infusion Services and Long Term Care. Completing his IV Certification Program at Holyoke Community College in 1992, Dean began his career working for Homedco which later became Apria Healthcare, as an IV Pharmacy Technician. Dean worked closely with Pharmacists to prepare IV medications ranging from pain management therapies to pediatric chemotherapy. Apria’s patient list included all area hospitals, Shriners Hospital, and Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. Dean later assumed the responsibility of Purchasing Manager and its $3million dollar annual budget. He was responsible for coordinating all drug recalls and national searches for life saving medications. He also worked for NeighborCare (Genesis Health) in the same capacity.

For the past 10 years, Dean has worked in sales, marketing, and product development. In 2005 Dean launched a start up wholesale to retail business and secured accounts with Yankee Candle, Atkins Farms, Bright Nights, Storrowton, Randall’s, Pilgrim Candle and more.

Dean attended:
  • West Springfield Public Schools
  • Holyoke Community College IV Pharmacy Tech. Program
  • Westfield State College - BA Political Science; BA Mass Communications