College Mourns the Loss of Edward Brown, Ph.D. '61
Brown was a longtime physics professor and former dean of the School of Science.
Edward Brown, Ph.D., '61, former dean of science and professor of physics, died on Sunday, April 30 at the age of 78. Brown began his career at Manhattan College as an assistant in the physics department in 1961 after graduating from the College, where he was awarded the Radford Medal for Physics. At that time, he also received an honorable mention from the National Science Foundation. Brown climbed the academic ranks throughout his Manhattan career, earning the title of full professor in 1989. Over the course of his tenure, he taught virtually all the courses offered in the physics curriculum. He also worked with numerous students serving as mentor to student-faculty research projects.
Brown was named the first dean of the School of Science in 1994 when Manhattan College expanded the School of Arts and Science into two schools. Brown served as dean until 2011, when he returned to the faculty as professor of physics. He was still actively teaching at the time of his death.
During his more than 50 years at Manhattan College, Brown also served as acting chair of the physics department. Under his direction, the College received a National Science Foundation Grant to modernize and expand the optics laboratory and created a plan to renovate Hayden Hall’s laboratory space.
Active on campus, he served as chairperson of the Faculty Welfare Committee, and a member of both the Council for Faculty Affairs and the College Senate. He served on many committees for the Board of Trustees, including the Committee on Facilities Planning and served as a faculty member on the President’s Strategic Planning Implementation Group, as well as the chair of the Middle States Task Force III in 1990-91. Brown also published numerous scholarly articles and was an invited lecturer around the country.
A graduate of Manhattan College on both the undergraduate and graduate levels, Brown earned his doctorate in physics from New York University. He was a member of the American Physical Society, the American Institute of Physics and Sigma Pi Sigma.