Campus mourns the passing of Betty Brown, staff member who authored ‘From the Beginning’
Betty Brown
UW-Green Bay learned today of the passing of Betty Brown, a long-tenured staff member who among many other accomplishments penned the book, “UW-Green Bay: From the Beginning,” which documented the history of UW-Green Bay, from 1969 through 1990.
According to an obituary, she joined the academic staff of UW-Green Bay Center as public information officer, and two years later became coordinator of news and publications for the new four-year University. She was named director of news services in 1970 and director of news and publications in 1977. Mrs. Brown retired in 1990 and soon afterward completed a memoir of the early years of the University.
She had many interests including music, travel and lifelong learning. She and her husband Donald were among the founding members of Learning in Retirement (now LLI).
Betty Brown with students in the UW-Green Bay recording studio interviewing Chancellor Ed Weidner in 2004.
Betty received the campus award for community outreach in 1982 with the following words of recognition: Her “….service to the University…has never been bounded by her job description or her office hours and that she generously shared her professional knowledge, personal time, and talents with numerous community agencies and in service to the whole community.”
And upon her 1990 retirement it was noted, “they don’t bestow the title ‘ambassador’ on state employees, but in its 25-year history, the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay has certainly had no better ambassador than Betty D. Brown.”
Brown won numerous awards for the print, graphic design, and media promotional materials she created to market UW-Green Bay to the community across the globe.
She died peacefully at her home Monday, July 27, 2020. A memorial service will be scheduled in the future. Memorial gifts may be sent to the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Foundation in support of the Donald and Betty Brown Endowed Scholarship Fund, established in 2014 for students pursuing liberal arts degrees.
Her daughter Martha Brown ’76 (Urban and Regional Analysis) is a UW-Green Bay alumna.
See the full obituary.
