Harold (Hal) Brown (’59, ENS), served San Diego State as an outstanding student athlete, dedicated alumnus, and, later, as the university’s first Black administrator. He was also conferred an honorary doctorate degree by the university in 2017. 

Brown died May 6, his family disclosed. It was his 92nd birthday.

Arriving at what was then San Diego State College in 1953 on a basketball scholarship, Brown’s initial enrollment was short-lived after he was drafted into the U.S. Army. He returned to

SDSC two years later where he resumed his scholarship and starting position as a guard on the Aztecs basketball team.

Before graduating in 1959, he had become involved in the Civil Rights movement through the university’s Wesley Foundation (now Wesley House Student Residence). This early exposure to the movement sparked a passion in Brown, prompting him to become a tireless advocate for racial and economic equality that lasted throughout his life. 

After earning his degree, Brown became more involved in the struggle for civil rights as a co-founder of San Diego’s Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and he was involved in the

movement to integrate the community’s residential neighborhoods in the early 1960’s.

Brown left San Diego shortly thereafter and eventually completed an MBA from Fordham University. Afterward, Brown embarked on a career that took him to New York’s Financial District, but in 1971, he learned of an opening at SDSC’s department of academic affairs.Brown took the position and made history as the university’s first Black administrator. 

It wouldn’t be the last time Brown made history at the university. 

A year later, Brown established the Afro-American Studies program (now known as the Department of Africana Studies) making it one of the first academic departments of its kind in the nation and believed to be the first to offer tenure and tenure-track faculty positions. 

One of the first faculty members to join the department was a recent Ph.D. graduate from UCLA named Shirley Weber, who is California’s first Black secretary of state. 

“Harold was dedicated and extremely savvy about universities and institutions,” said Weber. “He hired us all on tenure track. This stabilized the department and laid a great foundation for the future success of Africana Studies from 1972 on.”

As the department celebrates its 54th anniversary, Professor Adisa Alkebulan, who serves as chair of the department, remembers Brown as a man who led “a life of extraordinary purpose and achievement.” 

“It is no coincidence that a dedicated and highly respected civil rights activist established what was then called the Department of Afro-American Studies,” said Alkebulan. “Dr. Brown’s legacy is inseparable from the very existence of our department.” 

Brown next moved to the College of Business Administration (now the Fowler College of Business) when he was named the director of the information technology department, and

later, the college’s associate dean for external relations before retiring from the university in 1997. 

But retirement was merely a formality for Brown as he continued to work for the College of Business as a consultant. It was in this role that he founded the Center for Community Economic Development (Center for CED) where he worked with local leaders to extend resources to underserved communities that offered affordable housing, job creation and business development opportunities. 

“Working with Hal Brown was an honor of a lifetime. I will always be grateful to him for believing in me and in every other student who came through our program,” said Linda Guzzo, former associate director of the center. “He remained a visionary his entire life and never lost sight of his dream of closing the wealth gap in the African American community through education and economic empowerment.”

“Of all the things I’ve done at SDSU, I’m probably most proud of developing the Center for CED,” Brown said in 2022. “That’s one of the things I cherish the most and it’s given me a lot of satisfaction.” 

Brown retired from the university for good in 2004, but his influence and accomplishments are still celebrated. Brown was honored with the Alumni Awards of Distinction for 2012. In 2017, he received SDSU’s most prestigious acknowledgement as he was conferred an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters. 

Never one to rest on his laurels, Brown lived his passion of economic empowerment by investing in the community. One of his investments, the Lantern Crest luxury senior living community in Santee, also became his home and he resided there until his death. 

And while Brown may be physically gone, his spirit still lives on within the SDSU community. The Department of Africana Studies continues to attract top scholars and students as it moves into its second half-century.

And SDSU’s Division of Student Affairs and Campus Diversity is home to Harold K. Brown Knowledge, Education and Empowerment Program (KEEP), established in 2020 under a different name by Fowler College of Business alumnus L. Robert Payne (‘55, management) and philanthropist Malin Burnham, which supports the understanding of the history, importance of education, and economic systems of those within the Black community.

“Hal’s impact through HB KEEP will never be forgotten,” said Rachael Stewart, HB KEEP’s director and faculty scholar at the Black Resource Center. “Hal was passionate about mentoring students and uplifting the community through economic empowerment and civic engagement. One of my favorite memories was inviting him to the Gus and Emma Thompson Black Resource Center for the Vote and Amplify event, created to inform and empower youth through civic engagement. 

“Students were deeply inspired by Hal’s story and his leadership in the community,” Stewart said. “It was an honor to know him and work alongside him in empowering our students and in his service to others.”

But perhaps the clearest example of Brown’s impact can be found at the SDSU Library which houses the Harold K. Brown Civil Rights and African-American Experience Collection including papers, photos, newspaper clippings and slides of Brown’s civil rights work both in the SDSU and San Diego communities. 

Brown is among seven Black luminaries from SDSU history depicted in a mural installed on the first floor of the library. The library will also house a new mural in the Africana Studies Collection Area, funded by a gift from the Brown family, titled “Civil Rights & Champions of San Diego” which will incorporate images and information from the Brown’s collection. The mural will be unveiled in 2027.

“Hal Brown was one of the first ‘Friends of the Library,’ who I met when I arrived at SDSU in 2020,” said Scott Walter, SDSU Library dean,” and I quickly learned how much he believed in the power of libraries, archives, and museums, to further SDSU’s missions of learning, scholarship, and engagement.”

“His collection is one of the foundations of our collections reflecting the diversity of SDSU and the broader San Diego community,” Walter added. “Hal always took pleasure in hearing about the most recent class that used his materials or the most recent researcher who consulted them. We are privileged to be the stewards of Hal’s legacy and to ensure that his story, and the story of the movement he helped to make, remains available to the SDSU community.” 

A funeral is scheduled for 11 a.m. May 22, at Christ United Presbyterian Church, 3025 Fir Street, San Diego.

Aaron Burgin contributed to this article.