October 16, 2023

ArtCenter College of Design Mourns the Passing of Former President David R. Brown

Former ArtCenter College of Design CEO and President David R. Brown passed away at the age of 78 on October 13, 2023 after a long illness. The College offers heartfelt condolences to Judy, his wife, and their family as the community mourns this loss.

“We are deeply grateful to David for his 14-year tenure, from 1985 to 1999, as ArtCenter’s third president, and for his impact on students, faculty, staff and alumni,” said Karen Hofmann, president and chief executive officer at ArtCenter College of Design. “David established ArtCenter as a leader in the use of digital technology in an art and design education. During his tenure, he helped fundraise $55 million, with up to $40 million invested in scholarships and grants, and significantly increased ArtCenter’s endowment.”

“David Brown was a visionary leader who inspired countless lives including mine while I was a student during his time as president,” said Michael M. Warsaw, ArtCenter Board chairman. “He had an innate ability to anticipate change, and adapt to the evolving landscape in an era when technology's rapid advance was redefining the boundaries of art and design education. His passion, influence and legacy will live on at the College and in the work of alumni making an impact across the world.”

As president of ArtCenter, Brown changed many lives. Not only did he boost technology initiatives and secure industry partnerships—with major gifts from Honda, Samsung, Ford and other companies—he also broadened ArtCenter’s educational mission, and expanded programs in animation, digital media and more.

“The ArtCenter graduate is what I call the ‘poet of the visual world’—both the form giver and the meaning maker in a world that is increasingly visual rather than verbal,” he told ArtCenter’s Dot magazine in a 1999 interview. “If designers and visual artists were important in the past, and they were, they will become even more so in the future.”

Although not a designer by training, Brown was respected and admired by design professionals worldwide. Born in Maine and raised in Connecticut, he earned a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College, a master’s degree from Trinity College, and completed advanced studies in business administration at Dartmouth.

Before leaving the East Coast for ArtCenter, he produced ground-breaking marketing pieces as vice president of communications and director of creative services at the paper company Champion International. Earlier in his career, he worked as a consultant for graphic design firms including Danne & Blackburn. He also boosted his leadership profile as national president of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) from 1981 to 1984.

In that same Dot interview, Brown reflected on his time at ArtCenter, including when he first saw the Hillside Campus and the photographs, paintings, posters and designs on display in the Student Gallery. “Nothing prepared me for the sheer exhilaration of walking through the front door of ArtCenter for the first time,” he said. “The energy! Since then, I’ve probably heard a thousand versions of the same story from alumni, students and visitors to the College. It makes the most amazing and lasting impression. It changes lives.”

Brown took the College’s helm soon after the first Apple Macintosh was introduced. Under his leadership, and enabled by donations from Apple, Adobe and other companies, ArtCenter installed computer labs, cementing its position as a pioneer in digital design.

Brown was charged in 1986 with opening the College’s second campus, ArtCenter Europe, in Vevey, Switzerland. That global expansion resulted in more than 500 students graduating from the Vevey campus. When ArtCenter Europe closed in 1996, more than 300 students transferred from Vevey to Pasadena to complete their education.

In 1991, Brown propelled the opening of Hillside Campus’ South Wing, including the LA Times Media Center and the GM Computer Graphics Lab, the latter of which was funded by a $1 million gift from GM. In 1992, he oversaw the opening of the 4,600-square-foot Alyce de Roulet Williamson Gallery, which was funded by the James Irvine Foundation and Trustee Emeritus Alyce de Roulet Williamson. Since then, and continuing today, the Williamson Gallery has hosted many exhibitions featuring locally and internationally renowned artists and designers.

Significantly, Brown created an environment of continuous improvement and collaboration. When Alyce first joined ArtCenter’s Board of Trustees in 1986, she asked Brown what she could do for the College. To which he responded that scholarships were what was most needed. That year, she founded ArtCenter100 as a donor support group to raise money for student scholarships. Since then, the group has raised more than $2.4 million. Judy Brown, an ArtCenter100 member, recently toured the Mullin Transportation Design Center set to open on our South Campus next Spring.

In 1988, the family established the David and Judith Brown Endowed Scholarships. Their generous financial support benefits teen students from the Pasadena Unified School District who take public program classes as well as continuing students in any of ArtCenter’s degree programs, with a preference for those from a diversity of backgrounds and whose perspectives are underrepresented in the field of art and design.

“On a more personal note, David was my president,” Hofmann said. “I’ll never forget the day I graduated from ArtCenter in 1997. I remember my name being called, walking across the stage, and David handing me my diploma. It was one of the greatest moments of my life and a memory ingrained in my soul. It was powerful to be a student here, during David’s tenure, when 3D modeling and computer graphics were coming into their prime and revolutionizing art and design practices. He invested a lot into relationships, and instilled a sense of family. He was very thoughtful, intentional and methodical. He set a standard of professionalism that was, and remains, a differentiator for ArtCenter.”

After leaving ArtCenter, Brown went on to become Descanso Gardens’ executive director, and retired in 2016 after 12 years at the botanical garden. He also did consultant work for the Nature Conservancy and work with Napa’s Oxbow School, a single-semester arts school. Most recently, as a volunteer, he led the effort to create the nonprofit Gamble House Conservancy and the search for its new executive director.

A devoted husband, father, grandfather and friend, Brown is survived by his wife, three children and five grandchildren. A memorial service is being planned.