Deane was born in 1956^[8][9] in South Africa.^[10] His father, whose ancestors emigrated from Liverpool to South Africa in the 1820s, joined the British Royal Navy during World War II.^[11] After the war, Deane's mother met his father in Canada, when he went there on a business trip; they got married in 1947.^[12] When Deane was 15, his elder brother, who was 5 years his senior and was on conscription service, died of testicular cancer, after being misdiagnosed and denied treatment by a civilian doctor.^[11]

Deane went to King Edward VII School in Johannesburg,^[12] and then studied English and law at the University of the Witwatersrand, where he was a vocal and active opponent of apartheid.^[2] He graduated in 1978 and moved to Canada, to study English literature at the University of Western Ontario, obtaining a Master of Arts in 1980 and a PhD in 1985.^[2][13]

Deane's professional career began in 1986, when he was appointed an assistant professor at the University of Toronto, teaching English literature.^[7][14] He was invited back to the University of Western Ontario in 1988, when he was awarded the John Charles Polanyi Prize for Literature,^[15] becoming an assistant professor in the Department of English and teaching 21-century British literature,^[10] and was promoted to associate professor in 1994.^[7]; he was also Vice-Chair (1993-1995) and Chair (1997-2001) of the Department.^[7]

In 2001, Deane moved to the University of Winnipeg to take up the position of Vice-President (Academic),^[10] concurrently serving as a Professor of English.^[7] When the university's president, Constance Rooke, resigned in 2002, following a dispute with the board of regents over the university's finance,^[16] he became the Acting President and Vice-Chancellor in 2003. During this period, Deane oversaw the elimination of the university's accumulated debt, the first surplus budget in a decade, and the creation of the University of Winnipeg Foundation, a new fundraising arm for the university.^[4][17] Deane handed over the presidency to Lloyd Axworthy in 2004, returning to the role of Vice-President (Academic) and taking the newly established position of Provost.^[7] In 2005, Deane accepted the appointment of Vice-Principal (Academic) at Queen's University and serving as a Professor of English Language and Literature in parallel. He held these positions until 2010, when he assumed the role of President and Vice-Chancellor of McMaster University.^[7]

In November 2018, Queen's announced the return of Deane to succeed Daniel Woolf as the 21st Principal and Vice-Chancellor.^[18] Deane formally stepped down as McMaster's president on 30 June 2019, having served nearly 2 full terms in that capacity.^[19] He assumed the new role as the following day, on 1 July 2019.^[1]

Deane met his wife, Sheila, during his MA years at the University of Western Ontario, where she was undertaking her PhD in Women's Studies and was a Virginia Woolf scholar.^[20] They have a daughter, Petra, and a son, Colin,^[11] who, as of 2020, were respectively a genetics researcher in Vermont, US, and an instructor in education at the University of Winnipeg.^[12]

Deane and his family now live on a hobby farm called New Leaf Farm 20 km north of Kingston.^[21][12] They have been living on farms for 20 years,^[21] including during his tenure as McMaster President and Vice-Chancellor.^[20]

• John Charles Polanyi Prize for Literature (1988)^[15]
• Robin H. Farquhar Award for Excellence in Contributing to Self-Governance, University of Winnipeg (2004)^[22]
• 100th Convocation Award, University of Winnipeg (2013)^[23]