Kingsbury Browne, 82; Lawyer Helped Found Conservation Group

Kingsbury Browne, 82, a retired Boston lawyer and conservationist who inspired the creation of the national nonprofit Land Trust Alliance, died Nov. 11 in Kennebunkport, Maine, of pneumonia.

A native of Brookline, Mass., Browne earned his bachelor’s degree from Harvard in 1944 and then joined the Army Air Forces, serving as a captain in the Pacific theater during World War II. He received his law degree from Harvard in 1950 and became a specialist in tax law, advising several environmental and preservationist groups.

An outdoorsman, Browne developed a strong interest in land conservation. He served on the Advisory Council of the Trust for Public Land, a national conservation organization.

In 1980, he took a sabbatical from his law firm to study at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy in Cambridge, Mass., and as a visiting scholar at Harvard. During that period, he visited land trust groups across the country and convened discussions among their leaders.

Browne urged them to form a national organization, and in 1982 he helped establish the Land Trust Exchange, later renamed the Land Trust Alliance. The organization provides training and advice for nonprofit local trusts engaged in private land conservation. With the alliance’s assistance, the number of local groups has tripled since 1982.