U. S. Navy Commander
Gardner Russell Brown (90), a retired submarine force Commander (CDR) who was Chief Executive Officer of RusSon, Inc. Engineers and Independent Power Developers and Producers died April 6, 2018
Cdr. Brown was a resident of Arlington, Virginia and a native of Sterling, Massachusetts. As a U.S. Navy enlisted man, Brown entered the Dartmouth College V-12 program in August 1944 and was transferred in November to the USMC serving as a combat Marine in the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. During the Korean War he served as an A Team leader from a submarine to perform a mission behind enemy lines north of the Chosin Resevoir in North Korea.
Subsequent to his World War II service, CDR. Brown was in the submarine force serving on diesel and nuclear powered submarines. He also served on the captured German submarines U-2513 and U-3008. Brown was selected as one of the original seventeen men to enter the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission's Division of Naval Reactors, Submarine Nuclear Power Program for the initial two nuclear powered submarines Nautilus and Seawolf each of different technologies. Brown reported directly to Adm. Hyman Rickover over a period of eighteen years for seven of the initial prototype nuclear submarine power projects including the Nautilus North Pole transit and the deep submergence submarine NR-1.
Following his military service, Mr. Brown worked for the Northwest Utilities Company as a Nuclear Engineer for the Connecticut Yankee, Millstone I and II power plants and the Potomac Electric Company planned Douglass point I and II nuclear power plants. In the early 1980's he and his wife Sondra established RusSon, Inc. Engineers and Independent Power Developers and Producers performing engineering services and project development work in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and the United States.
His military decoration included the Purple Heart with silver cluster. CDR Brown had both silver and Gold dolphins qualifying in submarines as both enlisted and as commissioned officer. Campaigns include the Asiatic Pacific with two stars and the Korean Combat Service with two stars. He was a Marine Corps Rifle Expert and U.S. Navy Expert Rifleman.
Cdr. Brown was a fellow National Emeritus member of the Explores Club and the American Nuclear Society.
His survivors include his wife of 38 years, Sondra Jupin Gillice, of Arlington, Va.,sons: Kevin S. Brown, Steven R. Brown of his first marriage to June F. Reagan. Stepson, Thomas A. Gillice and six grand children and four great grandchildren. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to The Explorers Club, 46 East 70th St. NY., NY 10021.
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