A Memorial for ‘the Very Best’

Political colleagues and family members offered a warm tribute Wednesday to the late Rep. George E. Brown Jr., remembering him for his quiet but dogged efforts to bring peace on Earth--and to make peace with the Earth.

Speakers said the legacy of the eclectic Democrat--the longest-serving member of Congress from California--ranges from civil rights advances to environmental reforms, and said his full measure is still to be taken with continuing advances in space exploration for which he passionately championed.

“He was a public servant in the very best sense,” said House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), who led a 60-member bipartisan congressional delegation attending the memorial service.

Brown, through “his civility, decency and accomplishment,” was the essence of the very best Congress had to offer, the speaker said.

Brown, the oldest member of the House of Representatives, died July 15 at the age of 79 from complications after heart surgery.

Wednesday’s memorial, which included more than 20 speakers, was held before a standing-room-only crowd at the San Bernardino Convention Center. More than 1,200 people attended the 2 1/2-hour tribute, which was punctuated with readings from the Koran, the Old Testament and the Gospel of Mark intended to show the breadth of Brown’s own spirituality.

Brown died while serving his 18th term in Congress, having first been elected in 1962 to represent the Monterey Park area. He gave up his seat after eight years to run for the U.S. Senate, unsuccessfully, then returned to the House in 1972, serving San Bernardino and surrounding Inland Empire communities.

Brown entered public service as a Monterey Park city councilman in 1954--15 years after, as a student at UCLA, he integrated campus student housing by taking a black student as his roommate.

House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.) said Wednesday that Brown was admired by his peers as “a successful politician who was a non-politician”--so committed to his values and convictions, including his at-one-time lonely opposition to the Vietnam War, that he would not allow public opinion polls or consultants to shape his positions.

“He got elected because he was loved and respected by all who knew him,” Gephardt said. “He was a gentle soul, always calm, always thoughtful. . . . He spoke with candor, logic and passion.”

Among the most moving speakers was David Brown, one of his sons, who recalled attending a speech class in college that was assigned to critique a political campaign debate featuring, it turned out, his father.

One of the students later criticized the elder Brown for slouching; another commented on his rumpled suit and a third remarked that the politician was chewing on a cigar, David Brown said.

“Then, someone noted that he knew what he was talking about--and spoke with passion,” Brown said of his father. “My dad went on to win the election.”

“Our family has lost its patriarch,” he said, “and humanity has lost a truly good man. We love you, dad.”

A veteran staff member, Wilmer Amina Carter, recalled little-known Brown anecdotes--saying that he was the only member of Congress to personally address a Veterans Administration benefits appeals board on behalf of a war veteran.

She recalled too how Brown would graciously return political contributions from older voters on fixed incomes--and “add a little something for them” from his own checkbook. “Boy, did that freak out” his campaign manager, Carter said to the audience’s laughter.

Brown, a fixture on the House Science Committee, is widely credited with championing space exploration in congressional appropriations bills--and once surprised NASA by voting against its proposed budget because he wanted an even stronger science agenda, said NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin.

“He sent us a strong message,” said Goldin. “His memories will remain with us forever as we open up the space frontier in his name.”

Agriculture Secretary Daniel Glickman, who spent 18 years in Congress alongside Brown, said he “never, in all my years, met a more fair and just man.” He read a letter from President Clinton calling Brown “a leader ahead of his time.”

California Resources Secretary Mary Nichols, representing Gov. Gray Davis, praised Brown as a man who “fought fair, fought hard and shook hands at the end of the day.”

Howard Cincota said of his stepfather, “A great tree has fallen. We can now stand back and take its dimension.”

Tributes were not limited to the speakers. Ron Silver, who worked for Brown one summer 30 years ago, took a day off as an assistant U.S. attorney in Portland, Ore., to attend the memorial.

“I feel as if another wise man has left my life,” Silver said. “He helped establish what my ethics should be, my standards of conduct in public service.”

A second memorial for Brown will be held Friday in the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall. His remains have been cremated.