Kenneth (Ken) Robb Brown, Jr.
1941 - 2025
Kenneth (Ken) Robb Brown, Jr., October 16, 1941 - November 23, 2025
Kenneth Robb Brown, Jr., age 84, died at his home in Gaithersburg, MD on November 23. His friends remember him for his loyalty, kindness, eagerness to serve in community organizations, and self-deprecating humor. Ken was a staunch supporter of several recovery fellowships. In his later years he kept most of his connections online. Neighbors knew him as shy and genial, while professional staff remarked on his thoughtfulness.
Born in Des Moines, Iowa, to Paula Watts Brown and Kenneth Robb Brown, Sr., he grew up the youngest of four in a family both loving and strict who revered education. Ken attended Roosevelt High School in Des Moines and then Harvard University when he moved to Massachusetts. He married Janet Graham in 1962, with whom he had two children. The marriage later ended in divorce, and in 1981 his job transferred him to Maryland, where he settled in Gaithersburg.
A mathematician at IBM, he worked on the kinds of algorithms difficult to explain at parties, including phased-array radar systems that later became instrumental in the Global Positioning System (GPS). He was a lifelong engineer, and enjoyed building and designing both at work and at home, from a go-kart for his children to creating his own word-processing system.
Ken's passions ranged from music (he played both flute and piano), to reading, to films, and public media. He prized the natural world. After a knee injury in his teens he swore off football, but savored canoeing, and later cycling and swimming. He adored animals, particularly dogs.
He also collected heroes, and anyone who knew him could be treated to a discourse on one of the latest figures he admired—say Rachel Carson, Abraham Lincoln, Temple Grandin, Robert and Clara Schuman, David Attenborough, Harriet Tubman, or Oliver Sacks.
He was the beloved father of Jessie Brown, of Arlington, MA, and Andrew Brown, of Studio City, California. His sisters Laurel, Caroline and Paula preceded him in death, but he leaves many nieces and nephews, including Sam, Ben and Josh Quinones; Robb and David Duff; Pam and Katy Schall and Amy Gorsuch. Those related through the Graham family also remember and miss him as a dear brother-in-law and uncle.
A hybrid memorial is being planned for later this winter; his family welcomes all who knew Ken. Please check back for more information.
Kenneth Robb Brown, Jr., age 84, died at his home in Gaithersburg, MD on November 23. His friends remember him for his loyalty, kindness, eagerness to serve in community organizations, and self-deprecating humor. Ken was a staunch supporter of several recovery fellowships. In his later years he kept most of his connections online. Neighbors knew him as shy and genial, while professional staff remarked on his thoughtfulness.
Born in Des Moines, Iowa, to Paula Watts Brown and Kenneth Robb Brown, Sr., he grew up the youngest of four in a family both loving and strict who revered education. Ken attended Roosevelt High School in Des Moines and then Harvard University when he moved to Massachusetts. He married Janet Graham in 1962, with whom he had two children. The marriage later ended in divorce, and in 1981 his job transferred him to Maryland, where he settled in Gaithersburg.
A mathematician at IBM, he worked on the kinds of algorithms difficult to explain at parties, including phased-array radar systems that later became instrumental in the Global Positioning System (GPS). He was a lifelong engineer, and enjoyed building and designing both at work and at home, from a go-kart for his children to creating his own word-processing system.
Ken's passions ranged from music (he played both flute and piano), to reading, to films, and public media. He prized the natural world. After a knee injury in his teens he swore off football, but savored canoeing, and later cycling and swimming. He adored animals, particularly dogs.
He also collected heroes, and anyone who knew him could be treated to a discourse on one of the latest figures he admired—say Rachel Carson, Abraham Lincoln, Temple Grandin, Robert and Clara Schuman, David Attenborough, Harriet Tubman, or Oliver Sacks.
He was the beloved father of Jessie Brown, of Arlington, MA, and Andrew Brown, of Studio City, California. His sisters Laurel, Caroline and Paula preceded him in death, but he leaves many nieces and nephews, including Sam, Ben and Josh Quinones; Robb and David Duff; Pam and Katy Schall and Amy Gorsuch. Those related through the Graham family also remember and miss him as a dear brother-in-law and uncle.
A hybrid memorial is being planned for later this winter; his family welcomes all who knew Ken. Please check back for more information.
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