J. Dean Whittaker (1912-1981) was a WWII veteran and a prominent Edmonton engineer. Whittaker was born in British Columbia and graduated from the Faculty of Engineering at the University of British Columbia in 1934. He enlisted in the Royal Canadian Engineers in 1940, serving in England, Gibraltar and northern Europe during WWII, and becoming chief structural engineer for the Department of National Defence. Major Whittaker left the Canadian Army in 1953 with the rank of major and moved to Edmonton. He then became a partner in the engineering firm of Whittaker, Laviolette and Leckie, which specialized in structural and civil engineering. The J. Dean Whittaker Park is in the Rosslyn neighbourhood and has an area of 0.85 ha.