HOUSTON- Lee Patrick Brown was born on October 4, 1937 in Wewoka, Oklahoma. His parents, Andrew and Zelma Brown were small farmers. A high school athlete, Brown started his professional life as a police officer in San Jose, California in 1960.

The same year, he graduated from Fresno State University with a B.S. in criminology. In 1964, he earned a master’s in sociology from San Jose State University where he became an assistant professor in 1968. At the University of California, Berkeley, he earned a master’s in criminology in 1968 and a Ph.D. in 1970.

Brown became chairman and professor of the Department of Administration of Justice at Portland State University in 1968. In 1972, he was appointed associate director, Institute of Urban Affairs and Research and professor of Public Administration and director of Criminal Justice programs at Howard University. In 1974, Brown was named Sheriff of Multnomah County Oregon and in 1976, director of the Department of Justice Services.

As public safety commissioner of Atlanta, Georgia from 1978 to 1982, Brown and his staff cracked the Atlanta Child Murders case. As Houston, Texas’ chief of police, from 1982 to 1990, Brown developed Neighborhood Oriented Policing. From 1990 to 1992, he was police commissioner of New York City. President Clinton appointed him director of the White House Office of National Drug Policy or “Drug Czar,” a cabinet level position from 1993 to 1996.

Brown was elected Mayor of Houston in 1998.
The father of four grown children, Brown lives with his wife Yvonne in Houston.
We salute Lee P. Brown as this week’s Living Legend and invite you to send in who you think will make a good Living Legend and why they should be honored.