Richard M. Brown, 85, of Urbana died August 22, 2009 at Meadowbrook Healthcare Center.

A memorial Service will be held 1:00 p.m., Saturday, August 29, 2009 at Clark-Lindsey Village in Urbana. A graveside service will be held at a later date in Vermont. Renner-Wikoff Chapel & Crematory 1900 S. Philo Rd. Urbana is handling the arrangements.

Richard M. Brown was born May 17, 1924 in Cambridge, MA to Irving and Vertene Marsan Brown. Following public schools mostly in Arlington, MA, he attended Harvard College as a Harvard College National Scholar. Upon graduation in January, 1944, Mr. Brown was a Research Assistant in wartime underwater explosives research at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA. In 1946 he returned to Harvard as a graduate student in Physics, receiving his M.A. degree in June, 1948 and the Ph.D. degree in January, 1950. His graduate thesis work lay in the nascent field of nuclear magnetic resonance phenomena. As a graduate student Mr. Brown was a Harvard University National Scholar and an AEC Predoctoral Fellow.

Following his graduate studies, Dr. Brown was appointed Assistant Professor of Physics at Washington State University, Pullman, WA. In 1952 he came to the Control Systems Laboratory at the University of Illinois to work on the emerging field of digital computers. After a brief return to Washington State, he was appointed as Research Assistant Professor of Physics & Electrical Engineering at Illinois where he spent the remainder of his academic career, reaching full professorial rank in 1958.

His principal research interests lay in the design and applications of digital computers. Some of the computer designs he participated in or guided were the TASC computer, the CSX-1, and the ILLIAC IV. At various times he was a consultant for the Department of Defense, the Bureau of Ships, the Burroughs Corporation, and GTE Labs. Dr. Brown's later association with the High Energy Physics Group at Illinois in the scanning of bubble chamber and spark chamber film led to the development of the DOLLY semi-automatic film scanner equipment. He held one patent for a device for semi-automatic scanning and measuring of explosives data films.

Dr. Brown took part in the early studies of teaching machines at the Uof I which led to the PLATO project. He was also active in the establishment of Computer Engineering curriculum within the Electrical Engineering Department, which eventually became the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering.

Dr. Brown was involved in a number of local volunteer activities. He was at one time a Scout Cubmaster, and served on several Urbana School System PTA Committees. He was the initial Chairman of the Urbana Park District Advisory Committee (UPDAC) and was for some years a Board member of the Champaign-Urbana Symphony, serving as Vice-President and Treasurer. He was a member of the Isaac Walton League and helped organize the planting of Bicentennial Park at Lake of the Woods. At various times he served as Board Member, Treasurer, and Board President of the Lake Park Association in the Lake Park subdivision, Champaign, where he lived in the later years of his life. His remaining years were spent in Clark-Lindsey Village, where he was involved with a number of resident programs and services.

Dr. Brown is survived by his wife, Waynona Newcom Brown; two sons: Alan W. Brown of Tucson, AZ, and Stephen H. Brown of Urbana, IL; and one daughter, Kathryn L. Blackwood of Santa Cruz, CA; he had two grandchildren. He is also survived by a sister, Vertene Carter, of Belfast, ME. His parents, first wife, Kathryn Doane Brown, his first son, Peter and his brother, Irving, predeceased him.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Urbana Park District. Condolences may be offered at renner-wikoffchapel.com.