ÎDedicatedâ business dean dies at 60

By Deborah Wiig
The Metropolitan

Robert Michael Brown, former interim dean of Metroâs School of Business, died of pancreatic cancer at his home Dec. 31. He was 60.

Friends, family and colleagues remembered Brown as a distinguished professional, talented sportsman and dedicated family man at a memorial service Jan. 17 in the Auraria Events Center.

ãFor over a quarter century he helped build the college through service that spanned every aspect of the institution,ä Metro President Sheila Kaplan said. ãHe was a thoughtful and considerate man, upbeat, quick to smile, and possessed of a splendid sense of humor.ä

Active with Denver Bicycle Touring Club, the economics professor was influential in establishing Denverâs bike trail system, said his nephew, Buddy Brown.

Buddy told people at the memorial service that his uncle encouraged him to make the most of life and looked back on his own with satisfaction.

ãIf my death is imminent, know that Iâve had a great life,ä Brown told his nephew a week before he died.
Another nephew, Scotty Brown, described a devoted uncle who had a passion for fly-fishing, camping and golf.

ãMike Brown was a multidimensional man with an absolutely huge heart,ä Scotty said.

Buddy also talked about his uncleâs work in Guadalajara, Mexico, where he was a Fulbright Scholar.
Buddy said his uncle was not satisfied working in the comfort of his Denver office, so he learned Spanish, bought a Volkswagen bus and moved to the Mexican jungle. He researched economics there from 1969 to 1970.

Robert Michael Brown was born May 10, 1937, in Salt Lake City, the son of Harold ãMackä Brown and Catherine Mercy Brown. He earned a Ph.D. in economics in 1975 from the University of Colorado.

He became a faculty member at Metro in 1971 and earned tenure as an economics professor in 1981. He served as chairman of the Economics department from 1988 to 1989 and was associate dean for the School of Business from 1989 to 1996.

Brown was named interim dean in 1997 while the college searched for a permanent dean, but he left that post in July 1997 due to his illness.

Brown also served as faculty senator and was chairman of the Salary Equity/Parity Committee from 1995-96. Kaplan said he worked diligently to get accreditation for the School of Business from the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business.

Brown earned Metroâs Distinguished Service Award in August 1997.

Since 1976, Brown was director of the Colorado Council on Economic Education, and he received an Outstanding Achievement Award in 1987. He also was one of the founders of the Denver Community Development Credit Union, which provides low-cost credit services to low-income communities.

The R. Michael Brown Memorial Scholarship in the School of Business was named for a man that never said ãnoä to the college, Kaplan said. Metro employees still are working out details of the scholarship. A tree also will be planted on the Auraria Campus in his memory, but Kaplan did not give a date for that planting.

Brown is survived by his wife Linda Rytting; his brother H. Mack ãBudä Brown; stepdaughters Jennifer Simmons and Jill Miller; nephews Buddy Brown and Scotty Brown; and niece Holly Paranto.

Brownâs family has asked that donations be made in his name to the Hospice of Metro Denver, 425 S. Cherry St., Suite 700, Denver, Colo.  80246.