Edward Martin Brown

Edward Martin Brown, 91, of Palm City Florida passed away peacefully on October 16, 2017 with his family at his side. Ed (May 7, 1926 - October 16, 2017) was born in Brooklyn, New York to Gertrude and Phillip Brown. He is the older sibling of Gilda Harris. He is survived by his devoted and loving wife of 66 years, Rita Brown. His other survivors are his daughters Bonnie Seiler, Susan Angele, her husband Alan Angele, grandchildren Michael Seiler, Elizabeth Angele, and Caroline Angele, and his nephews Jerry and Gary Harris. Ed was deeply and dearly loved by his family.

Growing up in Brownsville East New York on Chester Street, Eddie was always interested in learning and adventure. He joined the US Army during World War II and after the end of the war was actually in Hitler’s bunker. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge, and protected a train against an attempted take-over by enemy soldiers.

He attended Syracuse University on the GI Bill and majored in Mechanical Engineering. He worked in the computer field with start-up companies before the word existed. He worked primarily with businesses that developed computer peripherals, including computer printers (which in the 1960’s were the size of a room). Ed and his loving wife Rita had many cultural exchanges through his work with executives from Japan. Ed was a member of the Freemasons and the American Rocket Society.

Ed, Rita, Bonnie, and Susan had many memorable family vacations in locations including the Virgin islands, California, Spain, Portugal, and Africa. Ed loved the farm he and Rita owned for many years in Mattituck Long Island, where sunflowers grew wild, potatoes were abundant, and the produce was eaten right after it was picked. He grew tomatoes, peppers, squash, rhubarb and zucchini. Rita and Ed enjoyed baking zucchini bread and apple pies. His mother was an excellent cook and that instilled in him a love of and talent for cooking.

His deeds serve as a testimony of the life he lived and the many people whose life he touched. Edward Brown will remain forever loved and always remembered in our hearts. We will always remember him with much love.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.aycockfuneralhome.net for the Brown family.

Edward Martin Brown

On behalf of our mom and ourselves, we want to thank everyone for coming.

There are a few things we think about when we think about our father

An interest in what’s new, common sense, and quiet competence.

Dad met a lot of interesting people in his life. I remember one day he said someone he knew had a son who was making movies. It was Steven Spielberg. Through his business projects he met executives from Hitachi and entertained them in his home. He knew many cartoonists, including Mort Walker, the cartoonist for Beetle Bailey. I do not recall how he knew Evel Kneival, but he did and I remember one time he said that he was asked to be in the pit crew. His biggest honor was meeting Miss America and Miss Universe through his affiliation with a company that used computer aided design to make them the perfect bathing suits. He had dinner with them and had an autographed photo as proof to everyone that he did really meet them.

Throughout his career, companies he worked with had government contracts, and he needed to have a security clearance. In the 1950s, as common practice to receive security clearance the government interviewed people who knew the applicant. He said one of his neighbors once said the FBI was asking questions about him, and the neighbor was worried that he might be a wanted criminal.

Dad was involved in the early days of computers and he always loved new technology. We had the very first computer graphics, in 1968 – a poster of the Mona Lisa made out of 0s and 1s generated by an early computer. And we always had the next new thing – one of the first VCRs, and what was at the time a revolutionary new type of wireless landline telephone that didn’t need to have a cord attached. He used to keep it in his pocket when he was outside at the house in Mattituck.

He had an entrepreneurial spirit and valued common sense over bureaucracy. I remember when I was learning to drive, and I once drove with him down our country road and pulled up to the corner to get ready to make a turn. There wasn’t another car around for miles around, but as a new driver I was following the rules and I put my turn signal on. He looked at me and smiled and said, who are you signaling to? I was confused for a minute – was he telling me not to follow the rules? But I thought about it and realized it wasn’t that, it was that he wanted me think about what I was trying to accomplish rather than just blindly following. He was asking me to use common sense, just like he always did.

And the quiet competence – he was just really good at a lot of things. He loved his vegetable garden in Mattituck, talking to the farmers, and grew more zucchinis than we knew what to do with. And he somehow understood things about cooking that made food just taste great. Even simple things tasted better when he made them – chicken breast, french toast, even scrambled eggs.

I once asked him and I got some scientific answer about the chemistry of how heat affects food. I guess the combination of his science education, his love of watching cooking shows, and his mother’s talent for cooking really helped. Whatever it was, we are happy that his love of and talent for cooking have been passed on to his grandchildren.

He had a silly sense of humor and everyone has a story about it. Our mom’s cousin Barbara remembered when he used to make up stories about Herman, a horse who lived in an apartment, and cousin Stephen said he always make him chuckle by asking him about monster movies. He loved bad jokes, and every year I had a challenge when I bought him a birthday card. I would scour the stores for the silliest, worst puns I could find. One of the cards had a picture of two female sheep - “ewes”, and the line was “happy birthday two ewes”. He loved the cards and insisted on showing them to people when they came to the house.

Our family is very saddened at the passing of our dad. We will hold him close to our heart and always remember him. He was the protector of our family and he will always be so through eternity. He lived a good and long life. We will aim to concentrate our thoughts on how he lived and how he loved life. We will forever hold him dear in our hearts.