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George L. Brown | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 40thLieutenant Governor of Colorado | |
| In office January 14, 1975 – January 10, 1979 | |
| Governor | Richard Lamm |
| Preceded by | Ted L. Strickland |
| Succeeded by | Nancy E. Dick |
| Member of theColorado Senate | |
| In office 1957–1974 | |
| Member of theColorado House of Representatives | |
| In office 1955–1957 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1926-07-01)July 1, 1926 Lawrence, Kansas, U.S. |
| Died | March 31, 2006(2006-03-31) (aged 79) Boca Raton, Florida, U.S. |
| Party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Modeen |
| Alma mater | University of Kansas,University of Colorado,University of Denver |
| Profession | Politician |
| Military service | |
| Branch/service | United States Army Air Corps |
| Years of service | 1944-1946 |
| Unit | Tuskegee Airmen |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
George Leslie Brown (July 1, 1926 – March 31, 2006) was an American politician. He served in theColorado Senate from 1955 to 1974 and as the 40thLieutenant Governor of Colorado from 1975 to 1979.[1] He was also a senior vice president withGrumman Corporation. DuringWorld War II, he served as aTuskegee Airman. Together with California'sMervyn Dymally, he was one of the first two Black lieutenant-governors sinceReconstruction and outside any southern state.[2]
George Brown was the son of George L. Brown and Alberta née Watson Brown.[3] Growing up on a farm in Kansas, Brown was a star athlete inbasketball,football andtrack before graduating fromLawrence Liberty Memorial High School in 1944. Brown graduated from theUniversity of Kansas in 1950 with aB.S. injournalism. He also did graduate work atHarvard Business School, theUniversity of Colorado and theUniversity of Denver.
For fourteen years, he worked as a writer and editor forThe Denver Post and hosted his ownDenverradiotalk show. He was the firstAfrican American editor to work for a major daily newspaper in theRocky Mountain region. Brown served as the assistant executive director for Denver'sPublic Housing Program for four years and taught at the University of Colorado and the University of Denver.
In 1956, Brown made history when he was elected to theColorado State Senate. He served as a state senator for eighteen years, and was re-elected to five consecutive four-year terms. Then, in 1974, in the middle of his fifth Senate term, he was electedLieutenant Governor of Colorado, a position he held for four years. Brown and California'sMervyn Dymally became the first two Black lieutenant-governors sinceReconstruction and outside any southern state. In addition, Brown won the statewide primary election to get a seat on the gubernatorial democratic ticket; whereas Dymally was elected independently separately.
Brown's tenure was marred by controversy: in 1975 he claimed that in 1943, during his military training, he was in an airplane crash and the Alabama farmer whose field he crashed into chained him up and branded him with a "K" for theKu Klux Klan. The brand later turned out to be from his college fraternity,Kappa Alpha Psi. Later, he said that the incident had happened to another cadet and he apologized for misleading people. Later in 1975, he was the subject of a grand jury investigation into travel expenses of around $3,600 he had billed the state. He said it was a clerical error and no charges were filed. In 1978, when GovernorRichard Lamm was in Florida on holiday and Brown was acting as governor, he pardoned recently paroled former death row inmate Sylvester Lee Garrison, because Brown felt Garrison never received a fair trial, with an all-white jury and judge. When Lamm returned, he rescinded the pardon.[4] Brown found serving as lieutenant governor "very frustrating", and he did not run for re-election in 1978. He was replaced on Lamm's ticket byNancy E. Dick, and the two won the election.
Later in 1978, Lamm accused Brown of overspending his departmental budget by $10,000 and ordered the State Comptroller to withhold his final $2,083 paycheck. His supporters picketed Lamm and Dick's inauguration and in 1980 he sued Lamm for $500,000 for the withheld pay. The government settled, sending him a cheque for $10,000.[5][6][7][8][9]
After his term as lieutenant governor had concluded, Brown never sought public office again. In 1979, Brown joined theGrumman Corporation as vice president for marketing and was later promoted to senior vice president in charge of the firm's regional offices, becoming the first African American corporate officer in a major U.S.aerospace company. He attended Harvard Business School's six-week Advanced Management Program in 1980, and worked as Grumman's chieflobbyist inWashington, D.C., until he left Grumman in 1990. That year, Brown joined the Washington, D.C. law firm of Whitten & Diamond. In March 1994, he was named director forPrudential Securities and managed its Washington public finance office. He was a banker for Greenwich Partners from 1997 to 2000.
Brown died on March 31, 2006, of cancer.[10]
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Lieutenant Governor of Colorado 1975–1979 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
