BRADLEY PATTERSON Jr.

1921 - 2020

PATTERSON Bradley H. Patterson, Jr. Bradley Hawkes Patterson Jr. of Bethesda, Maryland, passed away on Thursday, March 19, 2020 at the age of 98. Brad was born to Helen Gilman and Bradley Hawkes Patterson Sr. on December 5, 1921 in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Brad married his soulmate, Shirley Jane DoBos at Rockefeller Chapel on the Campus of the University of Chicago on December 26, 1943. They were married for 67 years until her death in 2011. He is survived by daughter Dawn Marie Capron, and three sons, Bruce DoBos, Glenn Gilman, and Brian Braese, as well as 10 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. Brad received his Bachelors Degree in 1942 and his Masters degree in 1943, both from the University of Chicago. He served in the Department of State from 1945 to 1954, and as the Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet under President Eisenhower from 1954 to 1960. In 1960, Brad won the Arthur S. Flemming Award as One of the Ten Outstanding Young Men in Federal Service. During the Kennedy Administration, from 1961 to 1962, he became the first Executive Secretary of the Peace Corps under Sargent Shriver. Brad then served, from 1962 to 1966, as National Security Assistant at the Treasury Department, graduating from the National War College in 1966. From 1966 to 1967, he was the Executive Director of the presidential National Advisory Commission on the Selective Service. In 1969, Brad returned to the White House to serve as an Executive Assistant to Leonard Garment under President Nixon. During his tenure under Garment, Brad helped to implement President Nixon's policy of Indian Self-Determination. He was instrumental in returning Blue Lake to the Taos Pueblo, restoring fishing rights to the Yakima, and passing the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. He personally intervened in the AIM takeover of the BIA building, the occupation of Alcatraz, and the standoff at Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Beginning in 1974, Brad served as staff aide to First Lady Betty Ford, and from 1975 to 1976, he was President Ford's Assistant Director of the Office of Presidential Personnel. From 1977 to 1988, Brad joined the Brookings Institution as a Senior Staff Member of their Center for Public Policy Education. Brad was elected National President of the American Society for Public Administration from 1984 to 1985. He served as a member of the American Political Science Association and an associate of the Center for the Study of the Presidency. For over 30 years he was also a member of the Potomac Corral of the Westerners. Brad authored three books about the White House Staff, Ring of Power: The White House Staff and Its Expanding Role in Government (Basic Books, 1988), The White House Staff: Inside the West Wing and Beyond (Brookings Press, 2000), and To Serve the President: Continuity and Innovation in The White House Staff (Brookings Press, 2008). Washington Post Columnist, David Broder wrote that Brad "has made a specialty of examining the workings of the White House and probably knows as much as anyone about how to organize the presidency." In 2004 he was awarded the University of Chicago National Alumni Association's Professional Achievement Citation. Brad and Shirley were avid world travelers and outdoor enthusiasts, and inculcated a sense of adventure among their family. Together, they surveyed most of the natural and man-made wonders of the world. Brad dove into the ocean both above the Arctic Circle and below the Antarctic Circle. Brad and Shirley observed whales breaching in the Pacific, grizzly bears hunting for salmon in Alaska, polar bears migrating in Churchill Canada, and penguins roaming in the Galapagos. They foraged for witchity grubs while embedded with one of the last hunter gather aboriginal tribes in Australia. For years, they criss-crossed the American west by station wagon, pursuing historic trails and natural wonders. Brad summited five of America's 14,000 foot mountains. At 74 years old, Brad trekked to 17,500 ft to see Mount Everest. Brad and Shirley were devoted founding members of the River Road Unitarian Universalist Congregation which is where Brad will be memorialized with a plaque adjacent to that of his beloved wife, Shirley. Services will be schedule at a time to be determined. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the River Road Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 6301 River Rd. Bethesda, MD 20817.