Thursday, October 1, 2026
On an evening filled with music, food and family, the Long Beach community said goodbye to a mainstay — Dean Lodge, a UPS driver known for his hospitality and big smile, retired last Saturday.
Lodge, 62, is originally from Saint Elizabeth, Jamaica. Before immigrating to the United States, he served as a maritime navigator on ships traveling from his home country to the states.
In 1988, Lodge moved to Adde Avenue in the Bronx. Shortly after moving, he came across an advertisement in a newspaper and applied for a job as a UPS driver. A decade later, Lodge would move from the Bronx to Elmont, transferring to the UPS warehouse in Uniondale, where he got his famed route traveling through Long Beach.
Collette Fung, Lodge’s sister, said their mother owned a bar in Jamaica, and always invited people to have dinner with their family — even those they didn’t know.
“Dean has never met a stranger,” Fung said. “That’s probably why he has become a pillar of the community.”
Lodge said one of his favorite moments was during the summertime, when families would invite him to their block parties. Lodge, who shares his Jamaican culture through food, would bring jerk chicken and jerk pork. For him, those interactions meant everything.
“It felt so good,” Lodge said. “It’s special for a little kid coming from Jamaica and moving to America. I was accepted, met people, their kids. It was like a family.”
One community member touched by Lodge’s kindness was Jim Kruski, who has lived in the West End for over three decades. “Dean always put the care of your package first,” he said. “Dean always put a smile on your face.”
Kruski, who lives in an apartment on Tennessee Avenue and works in window replacements, said that Dean would always bring boxes of window caulk through the property’s gate to his side entrance — which Kruski said weighs as much as 50 pounds.
“He could’ve just left it by the gate or the front of the property,” Kruski said. “That’s how nice of a guy Dean is.”
In his personal life, Lodge is well known for his love of horse racing and is nicknamed the “domino maestro” by his family. To stay busy in retirement, he’s looking into working as a lawn care and irrigation specialist, so he can stay around the community.
When asked what he’ll miss most, Lodge said he always looked forward to going to work every day and serving the familiar customers he’s known for 37 years.
“I’m going to miss my customers,” he said. “They’re like my second family.”
