David Browning

1940 - 2020

(News story) David Browning, a social worker and professor who for decades connected with audiences as a folk guitarist and singer, died July 17 at his home in Sylvania. He was 80.

His death was sudden and the cause still unknown, his son Justin Zohn said.

From the 1970s through the 1990s, Mr. Browning was a constant on the northwest Ohio music scene, playing gigs on Friday and Saturday nights at places such as the Coach House in West Toledo and the Crew's Nest in Put-in-Bay. He was a frequent guest at the Toledo Zoo's Music Under the Stars.

In the 1980s he did a stint as a full-time musician, touring and selling his album, Forever Young , but for most of his career he mixed music with teaching at the University of Toledo or social work.

"He just had an innate way of connecting with people," Mr. Zohn said. "Whether it was through music or teaching or just sitting around a table."

Friend Steven Rife, who joined with Mr. Browning once at the Music Under the Stars, said he was charismatic on stage with a beautiful voice, but was humble and quiet when not performing. When it came to the folk scene in Toledo, Mr. Rife compared his friend to local jazz greats Claude Black and Clifford Murphy.

"In my mind he was as a big of a legend as they were in jazz," he said.

Born in Mississippi to Lena Browning and Harrison Browning, Mr. Browning moved to northwest Ohio as a child. He lived at the Miami Children's Center in Maumee for eight years, and graduated from Maumee High School in 1959. He received a bachelor of arts degree from Bowling Green State University and a master of counseling degree from the University of Toledo.

He began performing in the early 1960s, according to Blade articles at the time, touring the Midwest, and was referred to as a "folk-singing social worker" in 1966, when he was leaving Toledo and his job at the Lucas County welfare department for Duluth, Minn., to work in a welfare position.

He sang his own music, protest songs, and folk staples. He was a fan of Ovation guitars, eventually buying a double-necked guitar, although he was especially fond of his 12-string.

After several years in Minnesota, he returned to Toledo, spending time at the Toledo Board of Community Relations, and teaching at the University of Toledo's community and technical college.

He met his wife, Sandra Browning, in the early 1970s while she was a student of his at UT.

His stint as a full-time musician ended for financial reasons, as he had a wife and two young children.

"He really wanted to give it a try," Mr. Zohn said. "It was one of the things that he always coveted."

He then went back to UT, working as an assistant professor in the Health & Human Services College, a position he held into the 2010s.

He continued to play too, extending a performing career to six decades. He survived a heart attack and lung transplant. He was also deeply involved in the Wood County Masonic Lodge, No. 112, in Bowling Green, and an active member of Olivet Lutheran Church in Sylvania.

Surviving are his wife, Sandra Browning; sons Justin Zohn and Demian Browning; brothers James Browning, Melvin Browning, and Gary Times; sister Mary Prieston; seven grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

There are no plans for a memorial service at this time. The family suggests tributes to the Transplant House of Cleveland.

This is a news story by The Blade. Contact the newsroom at citydesk@theblade.com or 419-724-6182.