It is with a very heavy heart that I share the passing of my dad, Daniel Dean Jones.

Our relationship wasn’t always easy, and we hadn’t spoken in years. But long before that distance grew between us, he was a father who loved deeply—in his own ways, and with his whole heart.

My dad was never the same after he lost his wife—my mom—to cancer 14 years ago. That grief shaped the years that followed, and I know he struggled to find steady ground again. But I choose to remember him in the time before that heartbreak, when we were a family, and when his love was something you could feel in the air around him.

He loved me and my sister deeply. He taught me how to play basketball and never missed a chance to come to my games. He was loud, passionate, and somehow always managed to get himself kicked out of the gym—but I always knew he was there, cheering for me the loudest. That kind of presence sticks with you.

He is now reunited with my mom up in heaven, who has been waiting a long time for this reunion.

I ask if everyone can please give my family some space to grieve during this time. And to remember my dad as the silly, goofy, loudmouth of a man that he was.