Remembering Eddie Brown

Edward Woodman Brown Jr . ‘57—long-time teacher-coach, board member, and friend of the Gilman community—passed away at age 85 on November 13, 2024. 

Mr. Brown Jr. was born in Baltimore and attended Calvert School before enrolling in Gilman for seventh grade. His son, Teddy Brown ‘84, said, “Both Calvert and Gilman were very influential in how he was brought up and molded his character.” At Gilman, Mr. Brown Jr. was vice president of the Christian Association, co-managing editor of Cynosure, a member of the Dance Committee, on the Student Council, and a player on the varsity football, wrestling, and lacrosse teams. His father, Edward W. Brown Sr., was a teacher and coach at Gilman. Mr. Brown Sr. started the lacrosse and ice hockey programs, and is memorialized through Brown Field. 

While in high school,  Mr. Brown Jr. looked up to Redmond C.S. Finney, who would eventually marry his sister Jean. According to Mr. Teddy Brown, “Reddy Finney was somebody he could look up to and try to model his character and his values after, given Mr. Finney was a person of such upstanding character himself.” 

After Mr. Brown Jr. graduated from Gilman in 1957, he went to Princeton. There, he played lightweight football and lacrosse, and he was captain of the lacrosse team his senior year. He also participated in the Army Reserve Officer Training Course (ROTC). Following his four years of college, he returned to Gilman for a brief stint of teaching before serving, also taking graduate classes in education at Johns Hopkins during this period. At this time, he met Joyce Stevens, who he would marry and live happily with for 62 years until his death. Mrs. Brown accompanied Mr. Brown Jr. to his deployment in Germany, where he was stationed for two years as an artillery officer. Following his time in the army, Mr. Brown Jr. returned to the school once more for what would be a 16-year career teaching math and coaching. 

While teaching, Mr. Brown Jr. aspired to be like his mentors: his father and Mr. Finney. Teddy Brown said, “He hoped to achieve similar success as they did in their careers. He wanted to achieve that same positive impact with teaching and in the community.” He also said that these teaching years “were the most rewarding and valuable years of his professional life. And I think that was because he was around amazing people, from the faculty, to the students, to the staff.” During this teaching period, he coached football and wrestling, which made Gilman even more special to him. Mr. Brown Jr. admired the teacher-coach combination that is so common at Gilman, his son mentioning, “As a coach, you get to see students that you see in the classroom in an entirely different light, which you grow to appreciate.” Mr. Brown Jr. loved coaching football under Head Coach Nick Schloeder and under Alex Sotir. Additionally, Mr. Brown’s tenure as head wrestling coach for the majority of those 16 years “is probably where he got his greatest joy from coaching,” his son said, “and is also probably where he gave back to Gilman the most and is known best for.” Mr. Brown led his teams to five MSA championship victories in a row and two Dual Meet Championships. These wrestlers are still really good friends today up to fifty years later, and “even up to my dad’s death, they all had a really special bond.” 

After his 16 years at Gilman, Mr. Brown Jr. retired from Gilman in 1980, got his MBA at Loyola through night school, and worked as an investment banker for a group called Investment Counselors of Maryland before retiring in Baltimore to spend time with his family and play golf, a game he loved. Mr. Brown had a decades-long involvement with the Maryland State Golf Association, serving as secretary, vice President, and president. In addition to his time with the MSGA, Mr. Brown Jr. served on the Gilman Board of Trustees from 1983-87. Mr. Teddy Brown said, “He also had the benefit of seeing a son and a grandson, Cole Brown ‘18, both attend Gilman and get a lot out of the place in a similar way that he did. Until his last day, he was a huge Greyhound fan.” 

Mr. Brown Jr. was a great student, teacher, and coach in the Gilman community, cementing Gilman’s core values in hundreds of students and athletes. Let’s strive to keep Mr. Brown Jr.’s legacy of holding the cherished values of respect, honesty, integrity, humility, and excellence above all else, and be thankful for his momentous impact on our community.