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		Points of View Dana Richter July 22, 2002 Guest Column © 2002 Dana Richter. Published with Permission. Photos © 2000, 2001 and 2002 Michele Anderson and © 2002 Henry Peters.

A Tribute to Dr. Robert T. Brown, 1923 - 2002

By Dana Richter

Editor's Note: Dr. Robert Thorson Brown, 78, Professor Emeritus of Michigan Technological University and Houghton resident, was pronounced dead on arrival at Keweenaw Memorial Medical Center in Laurium on Sunday, August 25, 2002. A memorial service for Dr. Brown will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 31, in the Portage Lake United Church in Houghton. Dr. Brown was a community leader and a guest writer for Keweenaw Now. His good friend Dana Richter offers this tribute.

Dr. Brown was perhaps more comfortable in the field than he was in the classroom. His reverence and respect for the natural environment stayed with his students long after they had taken his courses. He often said one of his greatest satisfactions was the praise that students heaped on him; some contacting him years later to thank him for what he had shown them about nature and life in general.

Besides using the Keweenaw as field laboratory, for many years Dr. Brown took groups to Isle Royale for extended hiking and camping trips. One of the early groups he started in the Copper Country in the early 1970s was called, the "Off the Beaten Pathfinders," which grew into and eventually became the Upper Peninsula Environmental Coalition (UPEC), organized for environmental protection of the area. He was also one of the founding members of the local Audubon Club, of which he was a life member.

A tribute to Dr. Brown would not be complete without mentioning his dear wife of 49 years, Viola; together they shared a love of nature and the environment and together worked to protect it. The Keweenaw Land Trust awarded Robert and Viola Brown the organization's Heart and Hands Award in July 2000 for their years of work in promoting peace, justice and environmental stewardship.

Dr. Robert (Bob) Brown and his wife Viola (Vi) Brown pose with the Heart and Hands Award that the Keweenaw Land Trust awarded them on July 4, 2000, at Churning Rapids. The award is given to local community members who have promoted peace, justice and environmental stewardship. (July 2000 file photo by Michele Anderson)

Dr. Brown was instrumental in establishing one of the first Michigan Nature Association (MNA) preserves in the area, the well-known Estivant Pines Nature Sanctuary near Copper Harbor -- one of the last and finest stands of old growth eastern white pine in the Keweenaw. On Sept 14 of this year, MNA will honor him by dedicating the recently acquired Perrault Bog near Painesdale as the Dr. Robert T. Brown Teaching Sanctuary. He was so very proud of this recognition and was looking forward to the event tremendously. It was a place he often took his students.

It was Dr. Brown's love and admiration for the environment that led him to become actively involved in protecting it. We can thank Dr. Brown for the fact that the Upper Peninsula has not been used for uranium mining or as a nuclear waste dump site. As an appointed member of the Governor's Environmental Task Force in the early 1980s, he provided  advice and leadership on these issues, arguing that siting such facilities near the greatest body of fresh water in the world was a bad idea. Dr. Brown was a reasonable man, however. Just lately, when the controversy about nuclear waste arose again -- whether or not Yucca Mountain in Nevada should be used for a dump site -- he could not come out against it.

"Maybe we shouldn't be producing it, but it's got to go somewhere," he said.

Dr. Brown was a World War II veteran. It gave him experience with the military, which he respected; but he fought against the arms race and on the side of education, health care and social programs which benefited people. He felt  excess military spending led to more human suffering in the long run. Dr. Brown and his wife took their love of humanity to many foreign countries, where he taught, studied or conducted research. He was an ambassador for human kindness and compassion in China, Finland, India, Turkey, Trinidad and the former Soviet Union. The Browns took into their home many newly arrived foreign visitors to help introduce them to their new life in the United States.

Together Dr. and Mrs. Brown were peace activists. In the mid-1970s the U.P. was proposed as a place for a vast network of communication antennas to be used to signal nuclear submarines. Again we can thank Dr. Brown for being prominent in the fight to prevent this assault on the land, which could have had destabilizing effects on world peace. His efforts held off for many years the building of the ELF antenna, and helped keep it to a minimum when it was built in the mid 1980's.

Dr. Robert Brown speaks about the history of the Copper Country Peace Alliance during a forum held on July 9, 2002, at the Little Gem Theatre in Lake Linden. (Photo by Henry Peters)

It was around the nuclear weapons issues that Dr. Brown brought peace activism to the Copper Country. In 1980 the Copper Country Peace Alliance grew out of the Peace Committee at Portage Lake United Church, which he and Viola attended. Locally Dr. Brown headed up the nuclear freeze movement, which was overwhelmingly supported by the American public, but rejected by our military and government. This only strengthened Dr. Brown's dedication and resolve; they hosted many, many Peace Alliance meetings and discussions at their home, and walked in many peace walks, demonstrations and vigils, even attending the annual Hiroshima Memorial this past August.

Dr. Robert Brown, left, carries the Copper Country Peace Alliance sign during a peace walk from Houghton to Hancock on Dec. 22, 2001. (File photo by Michele Anderson)

Dr. Brown was known for speaking up for things which sustained life and advanced the human condition. He was known for his poignant letters to the editor, and few could disagree with the arguments when they were so clearly presented.* He put human rights and the environment at the top of the list. Dr. Brown was not afraid to stand up in any meeting to say what he believed. No one will ever forget his deliberate, authoritative, sometimes halting speech, always commanding attention; Dr. Brown made his points, sometimes exasperating those on the opposing side. He was responsible for many improvements to the City of Houghton and Michigan Tech University, especially in the area of pollution, waste management and clean water. He was not afraid to take the heat which sometimes came.

Dr. Brown was always an advocate for the children and future generations. In one of his recent letters to the editor he says, "Can we, the United States of America, replace killing and war with love and peace as the future for our children -- as the salvation of the world? We, all of us here in this nation, hold the future in our hands."

Dr. Brown had a vision that he never gave up. There are many ways that our community, indeed our world, is a better place because of Dr. Robert T. Brown. He was greatly respected and has left many acquaintances with the fondest of memories. He will be dearly remembered and dearly missed.

Editor's Note: Guest columnist Dana Richter is a research scientist in the School of Forestry at Michigan Technological University, member and past board member of UPEC, member of the MNA Estivant Pines Committee, and president of Copper Country Audubon for the past several years. He is also a peace activist; a member and sometimes principal organizer for the Copper Country Peace Alliance since 1984; founding member, past treasurer and president of the Keweenaw Land Trust; and a Vietnam Veteran. * Read Dr. Robert Brown's Letter to the Editor of June 2, 2002, in response to an editorial in The Daily Mining Gazette.

Note: Views expressed by our guest columnists are not necessarily the views of Keweenaw Now.