Gordon Scott Brown ’48

Gordon Brown died Mar. 26, 2001, in Fairfax, Va. His health had been declining for some time.

At Princeton, Gordon was a member of Court Club. With encouragement from Prof. Cyril Black and after earning a politics degree, Gordon enrolled in the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. A 26-year career in naval intelligence ensued, which culminated in his becoming defense department senior consultant on Soviet naval capabilities. Gordon always maintained that his most significant career event was a cat-and-mouse contest with the Polish secret police, "in which the prize was my life and I won!"

Not one to push his luck too far, he retired at age 49 in 1976. He started a new career in management consulting, initially working on defense-related projects. Over time he became more involved with youth community service agencies. He was founder and first president of the Northern Virginia Big Brothers Chapter and received a lifetime service award from Big Brothers Big Sisters of America in 1994. He received many awards from civic groups.

Gordon served many years on the Princeton Schools Committee of Northern Virginia, five of them as chair. He took pride that "I never lost a kid to another college." Gordon was a lifelong bachelor.

The Class of 1948