Your Journey by Moonlight
Celestis Memorial Space Flight
December 24, 2023, Cape Canaveral, Florida
A Life so beautifully lived deserves to be beautifully remembered. Cierra remains sacred to the memory of her beloved husband, Dean. Merging with Celestis Enterprise Space Flight has enabled us to implement the realization of an ultimate fantasy into a reality. A symbolic portion of Dean's cremains was launched on the sacred Christmas holiday. It is Kismet that this unprecedented journey is accompanied by entertainment visionary Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and late cast members with whom Dean worked prior to retirement from the entertainment industry.
Those who knew Dean Ayers share indelible memories of a boundlessly energetic man: a lively raconteur, brilliant entertainment marketing executive for Anheuser-Busch, patron of the arts of Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia. In his retirement years, he was an incomparable host, avid sailor, steadfast friend, devoted husband, father, and grandfather. That indomitable spirit was silenced after a very brief cycle with Cancer.
A dynamic man of simple tastes who nevertheless lived a life that would rival a mystery author's literary hero. His distinguished military service in the Navy as a submariner had prepared him for the byzantine corridors of American industry. His silent service aboard the Catfish submarine was engaged in difficult, dangerous, but essential top-secret missions, which, in many ways, prepared him for the competitive corporate life. Eventually, he became Director of Entertainment Marketing based in Hollywood, imagining and implementing the world's biggest beer brand to interact with the movie and TV industry. He ran the company's prodigious film and television product placement division.
While in his Anheuser-Busch role in Hollywood, he was the Founding President of ERMA, the leading professional association serving the film and television product integration sector. He helped determine best practices for what was rapidly becoming an enormous part of the film and television industry business equation.
For many years, he hosted the Anheuser-Busch yacht annually at the Monaco Grand Prix and the Cannes Film Festival, where each night, the biggest movie stars, producers, directors, and film executives would come aboard to relax, celebrate cinema and escape the relentless paparazzi.
Friends remember his delight in his gourmet cooking. He loved to shop and prepare for each feast and mix music to set the tone of the evening or suit his guest's preferences.
He had an unquenchable love of the ocean, a voracious appetite for life, and a passionate addiction to travel. He and Cierra logged many, many passport stamps throughout the world.
In 2001, after a 32+ year tenure, Dean and Cierra retired to Savannah, Georgia. Dean became a patron of the renowned Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). He served on the board of advisors for the Savannah Film Festival and co-founded the Silver Screen Society Foundation, which has awarded numerous film studies scholarships. Dean recognized in these young people the big dreams that he himself had nurtured all those years ago as a young teenager.
Ayers was a man of complexity and innate goodness who rubbed shoulders with the world's elite in business and entertainment but was relentless in his acknowledgment of the unheralded people who worked so hard in life but were often overlooked.
"As I bask in your glory every night, I will be reminded of your presence as I deeply bow to you under your golden moonbeam."
