Donor spotlight: Fred and Shirley Brown

Fred Brown ’62, ’26 GP is a man with a mission. When he and his wife, Shirley ’26 GP, accepted the Deering Family Award at a banquet in May, Fred’s remarks featured his personal credo.

“My mission is to serve my fellow man, make my part of the world a better place for having been there, and bring out the best in others,” he told the audience.

That belief system has led the Browns to, among other things, support the University, the Libraries’ Annual Fund, University Archives, and Northwestern Athletics during the We Will campaign and beyond.In addition, Fred has served on theLibraries Board of Governors since 2013 and in many other leadership roles across campus, including chair of the Alumni Regents (2013–19) and four reunion committees.

Devising a personal mission statement began early in Fred’s long career in healthcare administration as a founder and CEO of BJC Healthcare in St. Louis.

“As a young CEO, I was very fortunate to be able to sit down with an outside consultant and create a mission statement,” he said. “It really helped me express who I was and what I wanted to do with my life.”

That personal clarity allowed him to develop lifelong objectives, such as coaching others with positivity, appreciating the differences among people, and exemplifying his Christian values. His goal to “give more than I take from society, my organization, and my family” led him to build on his long-standing gratitude for his Northwestern education.

“I was very, very fortunate to be selected as a student from Dunbar, West Virginia,” he said. “It’s a completely different experience coming from a small state to Chicago. I was exposed to a lot of different people from across the country with different backgrounds and different interests.”

The richness of the student experience widened his eyes, but it was the utility of the library that stuck with him.

“I always looked at the library as the foundation of the University,” he said. “It doesn’t just provide all these resources for faculty and students; it is an iconic building at the center of campus that represents everything about the academic success of Northwestern.”

The Browns also made the softball team a focus of their giving. As a student, Fred attended all kinds of sporting events with his fraternity brothers, some of whom were collegiate athletes themselves.

“That was a time of great college spirit,” he said. Years later, when the women’s softball team traveled to Phoenix, where the Browns live, the couple sponsored a segment of the visit and got to know the team. Soon Fred and Shirley struck up friendships with head coach Kate Drohan and her twin sister, assistant coach Caryl Drohan.

“We just felt that they were truly what college athletics represented,” he said.

Fred’s career papers have been collected and processed by University Archives. They join a burgeoning set of alumni archives from the healthcare industry, including those of Walter McNerney, a former Northwestern instructor and Blue Cross president who helped Congress shape Medicare policy, and Stephen Shortell, a former Kellogg School of Management professor specializing in the study of healthcare systems.

“I was very honored when I was asked to provide my archives,” Fred said. He was further humbled when, during a lecture about alumni healthcare leaders, University archivist Matt Richardson listed Fred’s archive alongside others like former medical school professor Malcolm MacEachern’s. “MacEachern was looked upon as one of the founders of the healthcare administration profession,” said Fred. “To be associated with him and the other great names in University Archives was indeed quite an honor.”