We are starting a Get to Know series… lets Get to Know Dr. Patrick I. Brown.
We cannot mention Notable ATO Alumni without highlighting the commitment and dedication to brotherhood that Zeta Lambda Brother Patrick I. Brown, Jr., PhD, Zeta ’62, has shown throughout his life. It is in his blood since he comes from an impressive lineage of notable Brothers.
His Big Brother was the great ATO Loman Brown, Delta ‘61 (not related), who went on to become ATO Province VII Chief. Pat pledged during the time of the outstanding Zeta Lambda leader Dwain Taylor, Charter ’59, when he was Worthy Master (now called President). By 1964 Pat took over the reins from another beloved ATO leader, Dick Habermel, Epsilon ’61. He has stayed active in academics and ATO leadership positions ever since.
Graduating from Murray in 1965, he went to University of Kentucky to earn his master’s degree in 1967. Pat earned his doctorate at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in 1975 and founded the Theta Zeta ATO Chapter in 1973 of which he is an honorary member.
Landing the position of Chairman of the Department of Anatomy and Associate Dean of the School of Medicine at Marshall University, Huntington, WV, he founded the Theta Omicron ATO Chapter in 1978. He is also an honorary association member of that chapter, making him an alumni member of three ATO chapters.
Pat has served as the two-term ATO National President (Worthy Grand Chief, 1978 -1982), Chairman, Secretary of the Board of Directors, Director of Leadership Conferences, and National Educational Advisor. In 1988 he published Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity Alumni Directory 1982 ‘to Know No North, No South, No East, No West… still available on Amazon.
He was asked to join the 7-member board of the North American Interfraternity Conference, an association of collegiate men’s fraternities whose function is to promote the shared interests and values of member fraternities: leadership, service, brotherhood and scholarship. It represents more than 5,000 fraternity chapters on campuses in the United States and Canada. After working his way through the chairs, Pat became its President in 1988.
In 2001 Dr. Brown moved to San Francisco as the Director, Department of Sciences, Mathematics and Biotechnology at the University of California, Berkeley. Pat retired in 2015. He has 3 children and 7 grandchildren.
Throughout his life no ATO has worked harder or longer to foster the spirit of brotherhood, stress academic excellence, promote leadership skills, and provide service to community to create better chapters and better men. Asked why he went on his amazing journey for Alpha Tau Omega and the fraternity world, he humbly replies, “It was payback for educating me, for whom I am today.”
He has literally touched thousands of lives. We are proud to call him our Zeta Lambda Brother and honor his legacy.