Fred Eugene Brown G’71 died on June 16, 2025, in Augusta, Maines.

(The following was provided by the Central Maine on June 16, 2025:)

Fred Eugene Brown G’71

AUGUSTA – Fred Eugene Brown was born on January 16, 1942, in Rumford, Maine. He passed away on June 16, 2025.

He was raised on the Back Kingdom Road in Mexico, Maine, and graduated from Mexico High School with high honors. While attending the University of Maine at Orono, he worked summers in the paper mill alongside his father and his brother Ezra. It was at the University of Maine, where he met some of his life-long best friends, his Beta Brothers and his wife of over sixty years, Sandy.

Fred and Sandy raised their four kids, Bonnie, Ted (Fred II), Keith, and Aaron in Manchester, Maine. He became a math teacher and taught at Hall-Dale and Cony High School for thirty-four years. He also taught math and statistics at the University of Maine at Augusta for over forty years. After he retired, he taught some “Senior College” classes, and one was all about puzzles. He loved puzzles, number puzzles, word puzzles, crossword puzzles. One of the highlights of his life was when he got to do The Puzzler with Will Shortz on NPR.

Fred loved nature and the outdoors. He took his family camping all around Maine, New Hampshire and Canada with the old green tent and the Santa tablecloth. He loved canoeing, sailing, skiing, hiking, biking and swimming. He was also a voracious reader. In 1984 he and Sandy bought a camp on Cobbossee Lake. They spent the next forty summers watching the loons, and enjoying a beer (or two) with friends and family.

Fred and Sandy loved to travel together. They made several trips over the years to various parts of Canada, and they took bike tour trips across Europe. He loved travel, but also loved being home. One of his favorite things to do was to play his left-handed guitar and sing folk songs. He also just loved to just sit and have a beer and some peanuts in the shell with his wife Sandy in front of the woodstove. A life-long Mainer, he would always say, “Maine is a big small town.”

Known as “Brownie” by his Beta Brothers,” Uncle Gene” by his nieces and nephews, “Grampa” by his grandchildren, “Dad” by his kids, and “Mr. Brown” by the hundreds of students he taught over the years, his great voice, sense of humor, and presence will truly be missed.

Fred was predeceased by his parents, Ezra and Edna Brown of Mexico, Maine, and his sister, Peggy, and her husband, Jim Miller, of Brunswick.

Fred is survived by his wife Sandy; his daughter Bonnie and her husband Evan Gilman, his son Ted and his wife Karol Brown, his son Keith and his wife Hoa Hoang, his son Aaron and his wife Emily Brown; his brother Ezra Staples Brown and his wife Marsha; his grandchildren Bethanie, Brandon, Lauren, Ellie, Emilia and Ezra; and several nieces, nephews and cousins.