A00636 - Roscoe Brown, Tuskegee Airman Who Mentor New York Politicians
Roscoe C. Brown Jr., Tuskegee Airman and Confidant to New York Politicians, Dies at 94
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Roscoe C. Brown Jr. in 1987 at the Hall of Fame for Great Americans at Bronx Community College.CreditEddie Hausner/The New York Times
Roscoe C. Brown Jr., a college educator, a Tuskegee airman in World War II and a go-to voice of reason during New York City’s racial volatility in the 1970s and ’80s, died on Saturday in the Bronx. He was 94.
His death, at Montefiore Medical Center, was confirmed by his son Dennis.
After directing the Institute of Afro-American Affairs at New York University, where he was also a professor of education, Dr. Brown served as the president of Bronx Community College from 1977 to 1993 and then as the director of the Center for Education Policy at the Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York.
He was probably best known for flying 68 combat missions as a fighter squadron commander of the nation’s belatedly celebrated first black military aviators, known as the Tuskegee Airmen, based in Tuskegee, Ala. But he also played an influential if subtle role in local political and municipal affairs as an adviser to black elected officials and as a founder and then president of 100 Black Men, a civic group formed in New York City in 1963 using the number as a symbol of solidarity in its effort to improve conditions among African-Americans.
Dr. Brown had few political aspirations himself (the only major races he participated in were nine New York City Marathons), which made his pronouncements on topical issues seem less strident or self-serving than those from most officeseekers.
“He would never pound his chest and say, ‘I am Roscoe Brown,’” former Mayor David N. Dinkins, who counted him as a friend and adviser, said in a telephone interview on Tuesday.
If Mr. Dinkins; Representative Charles B. Rangel; Basil Paterson, a former deputy mayor; and Percy Sutton, a former Manhattan borough president, were collectively known as Harlem’s Gang of Four, the former mayor said, Mr. Brown would have been an honorary member.
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If Mr. Dinkins; Representative Charles B. Rangel; Basil Paterson, a former deputy mayor; and Percy Sutton, a former Manhattan borough president, were collectively known as Harlem’s Gang of Four, the former mayor said, Mr. Brown would have been an honorary member.
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Dr. Brown in 2003 next to the P-51 fighter plane he flew in World War II.CreditStephen Chernin/Getty Images
When Mr. Dinkins was elected mayor in 1989, in part as an antidote to years of racial strife and after pronouncing the city to be “a gorgeous mosaic,” Dr. Brown noted that the new mayor had also raised expectations.
“Along with that goes the obligation to keep the mosaic together,” he told The New York Times in 1990.
In 1987, after Bernard Goetz was virtually exonerated for shooting four black teenagers on a Manhattan subway train — he said they looked as if they were about to attack him — Dr. Brown observed: “The climate in which this decision was made, whether it be by white jurors or black jurors, is one of racism and fear of black young men. I submit that the best challenge we can take is to find jobs for these young men.”
Roscoe Conkling Brown Jr. was born in Washington on March 9, 1922. His father, born George Brown, was a dentist, a public health service official and a member of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Federal Council of Negro Affairs, known as his “black cabinet.” He changed his name to Roscoe Conkling Brown to honor the United States senator from New York who championed the rights of blacks during Reconstruction. Roscoe Jr.’s mother was the former Vivian Berry, a teacher.
He attended the segregated Dunbar High School and, infatuated after seeing Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis at the Smithsonian Institution, longed to become an aviator. He rose to captain and was credited with being the first black fighter pilot to shoot down a German fighter jet. In 2007, he and other surviving Tuskegee Airmen were collectively awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.
Dr. Brown received a bachelor’s degree from Springfield College in Massachusetts in 1943 and after the war earned both master’s and doctoral degrees from New York University. He served in many civic posts; as a consultant to the National Park Service, he proposed an Urban Park Corps for the Gateway National Recreation Area.
He married Laura Jones. In addition to his son Dennis, he is survived by another son, Donald, and two daughters, Doris Bodine and Dianne McDougall. Mayor Bill de Blasio ordered on Tuesday that the city and state flags be flown at half-staff in Dr. Brown’s honor until July 9 at sunset.
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