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Ron Brown biography

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Quick Facts

  • PLACE OF BIRTH: Washington, D.C.
  • PLACE OF DEATH: near Dubrovnik, Croatia
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Ron Brown was the U.S. Secretary of Commerce under Pres. Bill Clinton. He was the first African American to hold this position. He was killed in a plane crash.

Synopsis

Ron Brown was grew up in Harlem in the Theresa Hotel. While in college, he became the first black member of Sigma Phi Epsilon. By 1967, he was a leading member of the National Urban League. A decade later, he helped manage Ted Kennedy's presidential campaign. President Bill Clinton appointed him U.S. Secretary of Commerce in 1992. Four years later, he was killed in a plane crash in Croatia.

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Profile

U.S. Secretary of Commerce. Born Ronald Harmon Brown on August 1, 1941 in Washington, D.C. Raised in Harlem, New York, Brown graduated from Vermont's Middlebury College. He joined the Army in 1962 and served four years in South Korea and Germany. Upon his return home, Brown joined the National Urban League and earned his law degree from St. John's University while working as a welfare caseworker for the City of New York.

Ron Brown was a champion of civil rights as Deputy Executive Director, General Counsel and Vice President for Washington operations for the National Urban League. He resigned his posts in 1979 to serve as a deputy campaign manager for Senator Edward M. Kennedy's Democratic presidential bid. He also served as chief counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee under the chairmanship of Senator Kennedy. After working as a lawyer and lobbyist for the Washington, D.C., law firm Patton, Boggs & Blow in the 1980s, Brown was elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee in 1989.

Brown was a key player in Bill Clinton's successful bid for the presidency in 1992 and was subsequently appointed Secretary of Commerce in 1993. He was the first African American to hold this title. During his tenure, Brown made it his mission to generate jobs and provide opportunities for ordinary Americans.

On April 3, 1996, while on an official trade mission, Brown and 34 others were killed in an airplane crash in Croatia. Though there were several conspiracy theories surrounding the accident, the official report found that the crash was due to a "failure of command, aircrew error and an improperly designed instrument approach procedure." Brown was survived by his wife Alma, his son Michael, and daughter Tracy.

Following Brown's death, President Clinton established the Ron Brown Award for corporate leadership and responsibility. The U.S. Department of Commerce also presents the Ronald H. Brown American Innovator Award each year.

© 2012 A+E Networks. All rights reserved.

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