The former Executive Editor of the Sun Times newspaper, Spencer Delano Browne, was laid to rest on April 20, 2012 following a mass of resurrection at the Trinity Cathedral.

In a tribute to Browne, Gabriel Williams, press attaché at the Liberian embassy in Washington D.C., United States of America, recalled his first interaction with the deceased.

“I first met Mr. Brown during the mid 1980s when Mr. [Rufus] Darpoh hired him as one of the senior editors at Sun Times, then a newly established newspaper of which Mr. Darpoh was the editor-in-chief.

“This was following Darpoh’s release from the notorious Belle Yalla, a maximum security prison, where he was detained in 1984 when the then military regime accused him of writing anonymous anti-government articles in the London-based West Africa magazine.

“I was then a reporter at Sun Times, having started my career nearly two years back as a cub reporter at the Daily Observer newspaper, which had been banned by the military regime for allegedly publishing anti-government articles,” Williams recalled.

Browne is the latest veteran in the profession who recently passed away following the death of Sherman Browne (no relation). According to the Liberian official gazette, Spencer was born on October 17, 1943 in Monrovia.

He was adopted by his maternal uncle, Jacob Browne. His uncle and mother, Cordelia Browne, predeceased him. The deceased embraced Christianity at an early age and became a dedicated member of the Trinity Cathedral.

He began his educational pursuit at the Assembly of God Elementary School in 1951 in Monrovia. From 1953 to 1957, he attended the Monrovia Demonstration Elementary School.

Thereafter, he travelled to England and entered the Broadhembury Secondary School and subsequently graduated in 1963 from the Belmont Secondary School with a high school diploma.

He later returned to Liberia and matriculated at the University of Liberia where he obtained his Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in English in 1967.

Upon his graduation, he travelled to the United States of America, where he enrolled at the New York University and graduated with a certificate in personnel administration in 1971.

From 1972 to 1974, he attended the College of Advance Traffic and Transportation an earned a diploma in interstate commerce.

The deceased worked assiduously with distinction as a shrewd administrator in the public and private sectors.

Browne held the following positions from 1966 up to his demise.

They were reclamation clerk, Monrovia Post Office; office service assistant, Richardson-Merrell Incorporated; purchasing agent, Banco Urquijop; manager and partner, Liberty Plaza Pangia Enterprises, respectively, New York, USA.

Others were research assistant, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; acting assistant minister for public affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; first secretary, Liberian embassy, Stockholm, Sweden; editor, Monrovia magazine; contributing editor and columnist, Sun Times Magazine; editor-in-chief, Maryland Today Magazine; associate editor, Torchlight and New Newspapers; senior editor and managing editor, Monrovia Daily Newspaper.

The deceased was also the author of several syndicated articles, including C. D. B. King and the Fernando Po Nightmare; Angie Brooks-Randolph, Achievement Personified, Daniel B. Warner, The Great Innovation, Every President Did Something, Enduring Legacy and D. Tweh versus The Establishment, which was, for a time, required reading for a history course at the University of Liberia.

He leaves to mourn his widow Philomena Savice-Browne, 12 children: Bendu, Shadrique, Wilimena, Spencer Jr., Connie, Percival, Naomi, Denise, Mariama, Terl, Sean, and Seward; three sisters, Mrs. Lucille Brumskine, Mrs. Pasquita Wiles and Roxinne Browne; one foster sister, Mrs. Mary Heron.