Delmer Brown

Delmer M. Brown Professor Delmer M. Brown died November 9, 2011 after a stroke. He was a scholar of Japanese history and an administrator who sought to improve the many organizations with which he was affiliated. He contributed significantly to the growth and reputation of the Departments of History and Asian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley where he taught for over 30 years. Delmer was born on a farm near Peculiar, Missouri, and lived in Kansas City until the family moved to Santa Ana, California in 1925. He graduated from Stanford University in 1932 with a degree in history. Rather than going directly to law school, as expected, he made a life-changing move by going to Kanazawa, Japan to teach English at a prestigious Japanese Imperial "Higher School." In 1934 while in Japan he met Mary Nelson Logan to whom he was married for 53 years and also fell in love with Japanese history. He served as an intelligence officer in the Navy during WWII. He then completed his PhD studies at Stanford and joined the faculty at U.C. Berkeley. He was widely published and the recipient of many awards. Dr. Brown was preceded in death by his wives Mary Nelson Logan Brown in 1987, Margaret Young Brown in 2003, and Louise K. Weamer in 2010, brothers Clarence Brown in 1919 and Harvey Brown (Ruth) in 2009, and by his only daughter Charlotte Brown Perry (John) in 2011. Survivors include sisters Margie Windsor (Jack) of Chico, and Mary Ashcraft of Texas, son D. Ren Brown (Robert DeVee) of Bodega Bay, two granddaughters, Mary Louise Perry Rognlie (Richard) and Carolyn Perry Robbins (Geoffrey), of Virginia, three step-children, six great grandchildren and his beloved companion Pauline Howland of Walnut Creek. A Celebration of Life will be held at in Walnut Creek on Friday, November 18, 2011-11:00 a.m. in the Fireside Room at the Gateway Center of Rossmoor--two days before what would have been his 102nd birthday.