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Brown was born Dec. 20, 1928, in Indiana Harbor, Indiana, son of Polish-German immigrants, and a graduate of Roosevelt University. He began his career in Chicago with the show-business newspaper Variety in 1953. In 1965 he transferred to New York to become Variety’s TV/Radio editor, advancing to assistant managing editor. It was at this time that he settled with his wife Jean (Slaymaker) Brown and family in Larchmont. He left Variety to join the New York Times in 1972 as its television columnist. He launched Channels of Communication in 1981. He created an international trade magazine called TBI – Television Business International, based in England, for which he wrote a monthly column in addition to his role as publisher.
He taught at a number of universities through his career, including The New School, Hunter College, Yale University, Colombia University’s School of Business and Fordham Graduate School. In 1991 he was named a senior fellow of the Freedom Forum Media Study Center at Colombia and was associated with the Banff Television Festival in Canada; The Prix Jeunesse in Munich; the Rose d’Or in Montreux, Switzerland; the Monte Carlo TV Festival; and the Prix Italia, variously as jury member, speaker at the seminars, and writer for the daily papers they produced.
Previous to his journalistic career, Brown brushed elbows with the music business when he opened the historic, Chicago based folk club – The Gate of Horn – in 1957 with a college buddy, the late Albert Grossman .
Brown is survived by his wife Jean; daughters, Jessica (Brent Mitchell) and Rebecca (Todd Adelman); son, Josh (Michele Garner); five grandchildren; and sisters, Marion Raisman of Chicago, Ill., and Anita Duxler of Tuscon, Ariz.
Plans for a memorial service are forthcoming.
Donations may be made in Brown’s name to the American Lung Association.
For more information, please visit: http://www.jjffh.com/runtime.php?SiteId=131576&NavigatorId=440677
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