Paul S. Brown

Paul Sherman Brown died Oct 16. He was 81.

Brown was born June 17, 1937 in Boston, Massachusetts, and raised in Dorchester, Massachusetts. After attending the Boston Latin School, where he graduated first in his class (an accomplishment that he was always quick to concede would not have been possible had he faced the competition of a co-ed school), Brown went on to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he obtained an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering and a doctorate in nuclear engineering.

Upon graduation, Brown served in the U.S. Army as part of his ROTC obligation. He was stationed in Virginia at Ft. Belvoir. As part of his official duties, he oversaw a nuclear reactor near Fairbanks, Alaska. While his time in the service was short, compared to his life-long career, the years were formative and the friendships he made were lasting.

After leaving the Army, Brown relocated to the Bay Area to work at the GE Vallecitos Laboratory. After a weekend vacationing at Sun Valley, Idaho, instead of crawling into bed like most of us would do, Brown, with his endless energy, along with an abundance of confidence and a ski tan, decided to visit the Buena Vista in San Francisco. The lure of a premium Irish coffee led him to the love of his life, Joyce. She was initially dubious of his claims of being a proverbial rocket scientist but was immediately won over by his grace after she soundly beat him on a tennis date the next day in Golden Gate Park. Brown was likewise impressed by Joyce’s extensive collection of classical music records and her season tickets to the San Francisco Symphony.

After a whirlwind courtship, they married that same year and eventually relocated to Livermore, where Brown worked at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) from 1966 until his death. He worked in various departments at the Lab over the years, including the Earth Sciences Department and the Weapon and Space Nuclear Power Programs, then for 16 years as the assistant associate director for Arms Control in the Weapons Program. In 1986, he served as a delegate to the US-USSR Nuclear Test Expert Meetings in Geneva, Switzerland, on behalf of the Department of Energy. Brown never fully retired from his work on arms control issues, and up until his final days he continued to write a book detailing the history of arms control at LLNL which will soon be published.

Not one to sit still for long, Brown traveled around the world with his wife. Favorite destinations included their mountain home in Colorado, the beaches of Maui, the Sierra, Europe and Australia. 

He was an active member of the Livermore arts community, including as a member of Friends of the Bankhead and Bothwell and as a representative on the Livermore Cultural Arts Commission. He loved the opera and symphonic performances, especially those performed at the Bankhead Theater. He was just as likely though to be seen on the sidelines of a soccer game, cheering on his grandchildren.

Brown was actively involved in the Livermore Rotary, serving for several years as chair of the Rotary Foundation. In recent years, and even after taking ill, he volunteered at Junction Avenue Middle School tutoring students. He also spent decades serving as treasurer of the Livermore Y’s Men’s Club, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing services to children, and he was the president of the Danville-San Ramon PFLAG chapter for many years. Notwithstanding all of his professional and community accomplishments, he considered his greatest achievements to be his two daughters, of whom he was immensely proud.

The last year of his life was physically challenging. He was diagnosed with an aggressive form of non-Hodgkins lymphoma in late 2017, which led to his paraplegia. He refused to give in and did not become bitter. Instead, with his wife almost constantly by his side, he embraced life, amazing his family and friends with his tenacious desire to live fully.

Brown is preceded in death by his parents, Leo Brown and Anna (Freedman) Brown and his sister, Gloria Davis. He is survived by his wife of almost 52 years, Joyce (Golden) Brown; daughters, Juliana Zolynas and Elisabeth Brown; son in-law, Brian Zolynas; daughter in-law, Christa Hogan and grandchildren Ian Zolynas, Ella Hogan-Brown and Mia Hogan-Brown, as well as several nieces and nephews.

A celebration of Brown’s life will be held on Monday, Nov. 12 at 1 p.m. at the Bothwell Arts Center, 2466 8^th Street, Livermore. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that donations be made to the Rotary Foundation, PFLAG, the Livermore Amador Symphony, the Livermore Valley Opera or the arts organization of your choice.