Fitz was a very warm, welcoming, encouraging director to the new members. He was patient with our learning, and he assigned solos fairly and generously, no easy task; in those years, no one stood out in front to sing a solo while the rest of the Kroks simulated percussion. Solos were brief phrases, often with a romantic expression, more often with a humorous touch. Fitz was a kind gentleman and a very good Krok leader.
Fitz was the leader my first year as a Krok and I thought he was terrific.
Fitz Brown was my classmate and Krok Director our senior year. He was a solid musician, as well as a good guy; over the years had a successful business career and a life of civic and community participation. He was, in my view, a real gentleman.
Age 86, of Sewickley, Pennsylvania, died peacefully on November 8, 2018. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on May 12, 1932. He was the son of Elizabeth Fitzhugh Rust and Stanley Noel Brown. He grew up on Murray Hill Avenue in Squirrel Hill with brothers Harry and Stanley.
After World War II, they moved to the family farm, Rockland, in Leesburg, Virginia. Fitz attended Shady Side Academy, and graduated from The Choate School and Harvard University, Class of 1954. While attending Harvard, he was a member of the Delphic Club, Hasty Pudding, and he sang with the Krokodiloes.
After graduating from college, he served in the United States Army and played the bagpipes in the Second Army Band. In 1956 he married Mary Florence Kern of Washington, D.C. and began his career with the Rust Engineering Company as a field construction engineer. They moved eleven times in six years to various locations, settling in Sewickley. In 1962 Mr. Brown joined the Koppers Company of Pittsburgh, which was founded by his grandfather Henry Bedinger Rust. Mr. Brown spent the first part of his Koppers career in the Engineering and Construction Division. Later he became a Vice President and Corporate Comptroller.
Mr. Brown served on the board of Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania and as a trustee of the Clan Donald Charitable Trust. He served for many years on the board of West Penn Hospital. He was a member of the Sewickley Heights Council for twenty-five years. Fitz loved music and the outdoors. His happiest moments were spent playing jazz on the piano, fly fishing, camping, and being with his family and his labradors.
He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Mary Florence; his children, Elizabeth Rust Brown Van Sant (John), and William Fitzhugh Lee Brown (Mary Ellen); and his seven grandchildren, William, Elinore, Mary Jennings, and Julia Van Sant, and Cooper, Cotter, and Peter Brown. The family will receive friends at their home from 4 to 6 p.m. on Friday, November 30th. A memorial service will be held at Calvary Episcopal Church, 315 Shady Avenue, Pittsburgh at 10 a.m. Saturday, December 1st. There will be a private burial in Sewickley Cemetery. Contributions in Mr. Brown’s memory may be made to The Allegheny Land Trust, 416 Thorn Street, Sewickley, Pennsylvania 15143, Calvary Episcopal Church, 315 Shady Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15206 or to the charity of your choice. Arrangement by COPELAND’S of Sewickley.
Published in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from Nov. 14 to Nov. 29, 2018
http://classmart.post-gazette.com/pa/obituaries/brown-fitzhugh-lee-age-86-of-/AC1E04401b9160C35A38qE6D028B
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