Robert J. Brown

Civic leader and federal government appointee Robert J. Brown was born on February 26, 1935 in High Point, North Carolina where he was raised by his grandparents, Nellie Marshall Brown and Marcus Brown. Brown graduated from the Penn-Griffin School for the Arts in High Point, North Carolina in 1953. He went on to attend North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro, North Carolina and Virginia Union University in Richmond, Virginia.

In 1956, Brown became one of the first African American police officers in the High Point Police Department. He joined the U.S. Department of the Treasury in 1958 as a federal narcotics agent in New York City, New York. After two years, Brown retired from policing and returned to High Point, North Carolina where he founded B&C Associates, Inc., a public relations firm, with his wife, Sallie Brown, in 1960 and served as its chief executive officer. As CEO, he worked with clients such as F.W. Woolworth Corporation, A&P Supermarkets, and S.C. Johnson. From 1968 to 1971, Brown took a leave from B&C Associates to serve as a special assistant to President Richard Nixon. During this time, he developed the U.S. Minority Enterprise Program and the U.S. Black College Program. In 1980, Brown founded the International BookSmart Foundation, which distributed more than five million books and opened more than 300 libraries across Africa.

Brown also worked as an advisor to several political and civic leaders, including as the director of information and research for Senator John F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign in New York in 1964. He also advised and raised funds for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and served as a confidant to the family of Nelson Mandela.

Brown sat on the boards of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Nixon Foundation, Carl Byoir & Associates, the Wachovia Corporation, Sonoco Products, and Duke Energy Corporation. Throughout his career, he received numerous awards and honors, including ten honorary degrees from various universities. Brown received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the U.S. Small Business Administration; the Distinguished American Award from the Horatio Alger Association in 1990; the Alexis de Tocqueville Society Award from the United Way of Greater High Point in 2002; the High Point Citizen of the Year Award from High Point Enterprise in 2005; the Abe Venable Legacy Award for Lifetime Achievement from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency in 2006; and the Collins Award from the National Urban League in 2009. In 2010, Brown was honored with the Executive Networking Conference Trailblazer Award, which is now named in his honor.

Brown resides in High Point, North Carolina.

Robert J. Brown was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on April 18, 2023.