He was born in New York City on February 21, 1900, to John Nicholas Brown I (1861–1900), who died on May 1 of the same year, and Natalie Bayard Dresser (1869–1950), daughter of Civil War Veteran and civil engineer Brevet Major George Warren Dresser and Elizabeth Stuyvesant LeRoy.[1]
After his government service, Brown settled in Providence, Rhode Island, as a senior fellow of Brown University. He served the university in a number of capacities for 49 years, including a stint as chairman of the university's building and planning committee, in which capacity he oversaw the building of a number of Brown University's buildings. He was also a regent of the Smithsonian Institution, and in 1975 was awarded the Smithsonian's Joseph Henry Medal for his cultural leadership.
Philanthropy
Brown inherited a large fortune from both his father and uncle Harold,[8] who both died in May 1900 before he was three months old.[9] In 1957, Fortune magazine reported that his net worth was between $75 million and $100 million. One of Brown's first acts of philanthropy was in 1924 to finance the construction of the large and ornate chapel at St. George's School in Middletown, Rhode Island. It is said he did this so that the students would no longer have to walk two miles to go to church on Sundays.
Brown was appointed to the board of directors of the Rhode Island Foundation in 1930 and served on it until his resignation in 1972. His 42-year tenure on the board was the longest in the Foundation's history. The Rhode Island Foundation is the largest philanthropic foundation in the state of Rhode Island.
Brown was invested as an Officer of the French Legion of Honor in February 1947 in recognition of his wartime service.[10]
Nicholas Brown (born 1933), a captain in the U.S. Navy who served as the director of the National Aquarium in Baltimore from 1983 to 1995, who married Diane Verne[14][15]
Brown was laid to rest, beside several of his ancestors, at the Brown family plot in the North Burial Ground in Providence.
Activities and Interests
Brown was an avid yachtsman and served as commodore of the New York Yacht Club from 1952 to 1954. He also served as commodore of the Ida Lewis Yacht Club and the Newport Yacht Club. In 1949, he had built the sailing yacht Bolero which was a 73-foot Bermudan yawl designed by Olin Stephens. The Bolero won the 635 mile Newport Bermuda Race in 1950, 1954 and 1956 - setting a new record unbeaten until 1974.
Brown's Newport estate, named Harbour Court, designed by Ralph Adams Cram, was inherited by his wife and, after her death, it was sold to the New York Yacht Club to serve as its Newport station.[26]
Brown's Providence residence was the Nightingale–Brown House at 357 Benefit Street. It was built in 1792 and had been passed down through generations of the Brown family. During the 1920s, Brown redecorated the house in American colonial revival motifs. In 1985, the house was donated to Brown University after the death of his wife, Anne K.S. Brown, after which it underwent extensive renovations.[27]
In 1932, Brown attended a Museum of Modern Art show featuring the work of Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies van der Rohe and Richard Neutra. In 1938, after acquiring land on Fishers Island, Brown convinced his wife that they should hire a modern architect to build their home. The house, named Windshield, was designed by Neutra and was completed in August 1938, at a cost of $218,000 (equivalent to $4,718,695 in 2023 dollars) and a size of more than 14,000 square feet.[26] The house was revolutionary in that it had rubber floors, aluminium frame windows and two Buckminster Fuller designed Dymaxion bathrooms. On September 21 Windshield was partially destroyed by the 1938 New England Hurricane. Brown had the house repaired and Windshield was re-occupied by the Spring of 1939. Brown put the house up for sale in 1959 but no buyer could be found. Brown donated the house to the Fishers Island Club in 1963 and it was later sold to Michael Laughlin. The house burned down on New Year's Eve 1973.[26]