WILLIAM J.W. BROWN

BROWN WILLIAM J.W.

Born in Staten Island, NY, on June 7, 1938. Died in Pittsburgh, PA, on June 12, 2019, age 81, of complications from prostate cancer. A graduate of the Catholic University School of Law and Yale Law School, Professor Brown worked for the firm of Beekman and Bogue on Wall Street and taught back at Catholic University before coming to Pittsburgh in 1968 to teach at Pitt Law School, where he specialized in federal, corporate, and estate taxation. His scholarship included books on tax strategies for separation and divorce and corporate taxation. Upon his retirement with Emeritus status in 2000, an anonymous donation of $1 million was made in his honor. He went on to serve for six years as director of the graduate tax program at Duquesne University's school of business. Despite significant health challenges, he continued to teach at Pitt, Duquesne, and Carlow until he was 78. Beloved by his students, he made taxes fun and won three Excellence in Teaching Awards from Pitt Law (1994, 1999, and 2008) and the Chancellor's Distinguished Teaching Award (1991). He was twice elected president of the University Senate and served on the University Press Board and many other committees, including as chair of the Affirmative Action Committee and the Tenure and Academic Freedom Committee. For at least thirty years, he commuted to Pitt by bicycle. Bill was "serially maniacal," throwing himself wholeheartedly into various pursuits over the years—tennis, art collecting, sailing, marathon running, pottery making, model boat building, golf, wooden kayak building, vintage car racing, icon "writing," furniture restoration, and painting landscapes and portraits of his beloved Beagle, Knox. Perhaps his greatest artistic creation was the home he built in Rector, PA, largely with his own hands. In 2017, he published "Canticle of Returning," a memoir about his Catholic faith. He served as a 40-year board member and past president of the Center for Hearing and Deaf Services (HDS) of Pittsburgh, from whom he received the Harlan J. Rozenzweig Appreciation Award in May 2019. He was also a past board member and president of Chamber Music Pittsburgh and a member of Sacred Heart Parish, the Pittsburgh Junta, the Board of Governors of the Yale Club of Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh Tax Club, and the Pittsburgh Golf Club. He is survived by his wife of 35 years, Eliza Smith Brown; and three adult children, Will, Brendan, and Regina. Friends will be received at JOHN A. FREYVOGEL SONS, INC., 4900 Centre Ave., at Devonshire St., on Tuesday, June 18, from 1-4 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. Funeral on Wednesday, June 19, 2019. Mass of Christian Burial at Sacred Heart Church at 10:00 a.m. Remembrences may be made to the Center for Hearing and Deaf Services of Pittsburgh, www.hdscenter.org.