AmFAR Chief Says He’ll Quit : * AIDS: Robert H. Brown, head of the research foundation, discloses decision after widespread criticism over his stewardship.

Robert H. Brown, the embattled executive director of the American Foundation for AIDS Research, has disclosed that he will resign his post next month, sources familiar with the organization said Tuesday.

The decision was reached by “mutual agreement” between Brown and members of the turmoil-ridden group’s executive board, according to the sources. Brown announced his decision in a private meeting with staff members Monday.

Officials at AmFAR, the nation’s most prominent private AIDS organization, declined comment but said an announcement on Brown’s status would be made today. Brown could not be reached for comment.

Earlier this month The Times reported that Brown, a former executive with the March of Dimes, had come under fire from staff members for allegedly making homophobic and sexist comments. He also had been criticized for trying to downplay AmFAR’s traditionally strong links with the gay community.

More important, Brown had drawn the wrath of actress Elizabeth Taylor, the group’s founding national chairwoman. Taylor was known to be unhappy with his stewardship of some of her pet projects, such as increased funding for international AIDS programs.

Since AmFAR’s founding in 1985, Taylor has raised and directed millions of dollars to the organization. Earlier this month, however, the film star announced that she would create her own AIDS organization and that proceeds from the sale of her recent wedding pictures would not go to AmFAR, as had been expected.

“All these things reflected dissatisfaction with him (Brown) in one way or another, and it just became an untenable situation,” said one source familiar with the situation. “We were spending more of our time talking about Bob Brown than AIDS, and a foundation like AmFAR can run only so long without confidence in its executive director.”

During his remarks to staff members Monday, sources said, Brown defended his job performance and blamed many of his troubles on the news media as well as on “dissatisfied” employees who had subsequently resigned or been fired. He also has said the organization was experiencing inevitable “growing pains” as it became more business-oriented.

A search for a new executive director will begin immediately, said one source, who added: “It’s onward and upward from here. With (Brown), the chemistry here just wasn’t right from the beginning.”

AmFAR, which is based in New York, has distributed more than $40 million to AIDS research nationwide.

Its board includes some of the biggest names in the entertainment world, including record and film moguls David Geffen and Michael Fuchs, the wives of Lew Wasserman and Michael D. Eisner, and Abigail Van Buren, Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager.

The group also includes prominent names in medicine.

Dr. Mathilde Krim, AmFAR’s founding co-chair, was among the first biomedical researchers to call attention to the deadly virus and is a respected name in AIDS circles, as is Dr. Joel D. Weisman, the organization’s Los Angeles-based chairman.

Times staff writer Victor F. Zonana contributed to this story.