Dean Jobb

I am a journalism professor and an award-winning author and investigative journalist who lives in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. In my thirty-year career I have written on an array of subjects – history, current events, law, business, politics, media issues, workplace safety, science, travel and books. (My surname is pronounced Jobe).

My latest book is Empire of Deception: The Incredible Story of a Master Swindler Who Seduced a City and Captivated the Nation. It’s the stranger-than-fiction saga of con man Leo Koretz, the Bernie Madoff of the 1920s and a fraud artist extraordinare the New York Times dubbed “the most resourceful confidence man in the United States.” The smooth-talking Chicago lawyer enticed hundreds of people to invest as much as $30 million – some $400 million today – in his imaginary Panamanian oil fields.

I’m a member of the Crime Writers of Canada and the Writers Federation of Nova Scotia.

I am an associate professor in the School of Journalism, University of King’s College in Halifax, where I have been a member of faculty since 2003 after teaching part-time for more than a decade. My specialties include investigative reporting, writing and editing, newspaper production, defamation and other forms of media law, journalists’ ethics, freedom of information and the history of journalism. Parties involved in defamation suits have retained me as an expert on responsible journalism and libel law and I have conducted professional development seminars for Rogers Media, the Canadian and Ontario community newspaper associations, and the Canadian Association of Journalists. I have been invited to speak to an array of groups and organizations, including the Atlantic Booksellers Association, the Canadian Judicial Council and the Bibliographical Society of Canada.