Donald Brown

Mr. Brown's background reveals a struggle for self-awareness and a record of overcoming hardships that life dealt him. At 13, he had been forced to confront his father’s suicide. At 17, he left middle school to join the United States Marine Corps. A serious injury while in the Marines left him partially disabled for life.

After his military service, prior to attending college and law school, Mr. Brown, pursued a career in semi-professional sports. He attempted to follow a path to major league baseball, but early onset diabetes affected his eyesight and after four years caused him to change his athletic preference to football. At the age of 22, he was starting as a defensive lineman for the South Boston Chippaweas in the New England Conference. He retired from a twelve year stint in minor league football when he was thirty four. He also owned and managed several businesses in the construction, taxi, trucking and restaurant industries.

Brown, a late bloomer, was educated at Mount Wachusett Community College, Amherst College and Harvard Law School. When he was 36 years old, without any high school education and confined to a wheelchair due to another devastating injury, Mr. Brown took advantage of a free course offered by Mount Wachusett Community College. His return to education became a turning point in his life. While there he received his GED and after excelling at Mount Wachusett, Mr. Brown received a full scholarship to Amherst College, At Amherst College, Mr. Brown double majored in History and American Studies. At Amherst, his studies focused on African American History and Literature, and he was teaching assistant to the famed Constitutional History scholar, Professor Henry Steele Commager. His academic record earned him high distinctions, including Cum Laude, the John Woodruff Simpson Fellow in Law and the First National Bank of Amherst Centennial Fund Fellow in Law.

At Harvard Law School, Mr. Brown's third-year law paper, The Struggle For Racial Harmony, was recommended for the Permanent Collection of the Harvard Law School Library by his mentor and advisor, Professor Derrick Bell. In that paper, Brown predicted that his classmate, Barack Obama would be elected president in 2004. While at Harvard, Mr. Brown contributed to an article entitled, Racial Reflections, published in the University of California at Los Angeles Law Review.

In his short legal career, Mr. Brown saved the homes of scores of elderly minority residents in Boston's neighborhoods during the Second MortgageHome Improvement Scam which plagued Boston in the early nineties.

Severe personal tragedy led to serious problems with his burgeoning law firm. Brown was forced to withdraw from law practice and then began a career in Medical Practice Management Consulting. At the same time, he began his teaching career as a adjunct college professor at several Boston area colleges and universities. In 2007, upon retirement, Brown began to write about many of his experiences. “The Morphine Dream” is the first of several books he will publish in the autumn of his life. His extraordinarily unique and diverse background brings a special insight and understanding to his wr