May 6, 2008
Robert U. Brown, 95, Father of Darienite, magazine editor and president
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Robert Utting Brown, father of Robin Brown Woods of Darien and editor and president of Editor & Publisher from 1953 until 1999, died Thursday, March 20, at his home in Greenwich. He was 95.
Born into a publishing family in Yonkers, N.Y., he graduated from Dartmouth College in 1934 and immediately went to the Empire State School of Printing, where he learned all aspects of printing, from hand type-setting to press and linotype operating,
After working as a reporter for The Trenton Times in New Jersey, The United Press and The Auburn Citizen-Advertiser in New York, he joined Editor & Publisher, his family’s weekly news magazine which covered the newspaper industry, widely known as the “newspaperman’s bible.” Mr. Brown was elected president of Editor & Publisher Corporation in 1953 and became publisher and editor in 1958.
Mr. Brown gained enormous respect from his peers in the newspaper business and was considered an expert in the field. Among his honors were: election to the American Society of Newspaper Editors, the only editor of a weekly to be so honored; founding member and later president of the Inter American Press Association; board member of the International Press Institute; governing board member of the Overseas Press Club; elected a fellow of Sigma Delta Chi for Distinguished Achievements in the Profession of Journalism; recipient of Columbia University’s Maria Moors Cabot Prize with Special Citation for Service in the Cause of Press Freedom; and recipient of the Crain Award of the Association of Business Publishers in 1989.
He is remembered with “affection and admiration” by his family, friends and his employees, who considered him to be a “rare true gentleman of the old school possessing wit, intelligence and grace.”
Mr. Brown is survived by his two daughters, Robin Brown Woods of Darien, and Elizabeth Brown Phillips of Houston and Dallas; his sons-in-law Richard M. Woods and John W. Shannon; five grandchildren, Richard S. Woods of Keystone, Colo.; Whitney S. Woods of Fairfield; Ashley E. Woods of Boulder, Colo.; D. Colin Phillips of Los Angeles; and Christopher L. Phillips of Riverside; and two great-grandchildren, Michael and Christopher Phillips of Riverside.
Mr. Brown was predeceased by his wife of 50 years, Susan Steele Brown. They were widely regarded as the “paragon of a happy and devoted couple,” said his family.
A celebration of the life will be held at 11 on Tuesday, May 20, at the Talmadge Hill Community Church, Talmadge Hill Road, New Canaan. Friends are invited to join the family immediately following the service at Wee Bum Country Club, 410 Hollow Tree Ridge Road, Darien.
Donations in his memory may be made to Greenwich Hospital Home Hospice Care.
© Copyright 2008 by Hersam Acorn Newspapers
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