The 89-year-old was born on January 27, 1927.
He matriculated at the age of 15 from Cathcart High School in the Eastern Cape.
The Old People’s Home resident left an account of his life for the City Times long before he died.
Brown obtained his law degree at at age of 19, and said he was the youngest person in the department of native affairs to achieve this at the time.
He served as mayor of the Benoni Town Council from 1972 to 1973 and 1976 to 1977.
He was president of the Benoni Chamber of Business; president of the Benoni Pioneers Association; president and co-founder of the Benoni Reconciliation Association; chairperson of the Benoni/Boksburg Peace Committee and received citations by the Benoni Centenary Committee, the Benoni Lane of Fame and the Benoni Pioneers Association.
Brown could speak three African languages.
“I deliberately learned phrases in seSotho and isiZulu in addition to being fluent in isiXhosa, to be able to greet all South Africans in their home tongue,” he said.
He said this broke barriers between different races.
Brown joined the IFP in 1994.
“I deliberately made myself as a candidate of a black party in a municipal election in a white residential area to build a rainbow nation,” Brown said.
“I succeeded to convince 40 per cent of the white voters to move away from the mindset of ‘us whites must stick together’.”
The Benonian also authored a book, entitled “How to succeed by doing what you like”.
In it, he said his life purpose was to build a “great South African nation by encouraging all citizens to fully use their inborn talents”.
Sam Grolman, who was twice mayor of the Benoni Town Council himself, said Brown was passionate about Benoni.
“He was very keen on Benoni and the Pioneers and similar organisations,” said Grolman.
“He put a lot of time and effort into working for Benoni, particularly when he was mayor.”
Grolman said Brown did not have any children.
The memorial service will be held at the Northfield Methodist Church chapel on Friday, August 5, at noon.
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