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Steve Brown |
Brown, who was 69, died at his home due to ongoing respiratory problems. For the past few years, he had been a weekend talk show host on KFAB-AM (1110).
“Brownie” (as I called him) was a memorable guy. Small of stature, he had perhaps the most powerful voice I’ve ever heard. It was a voice that absolutely reeked of authority, and he had a brain to match.
He could sound like an expert on just about any topic. He knew just what to say to get people to call in, and he knew how to keep the dialogue stimulating and entertaining. There was nobody who could read a commercial message like Brown. The advertisers loved him. He gave their product or service instant credibility.
But what else would you expect from a radio legend?
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As a morning talk show host at the time for KKAR-AM (1290), Brown was opposed to UNMC doing this research.
Although we were on different sides on this research issue, we never let our differences get in the way.
In dealing with Brown, I soon learned that he was a huge fan of UNMC and its chancellor, Harold M. Maurer, M.D. He was thrilled with what was happening at UNMC.
He considered UNMC to be a source of pride for the entire state. “You don’t need to go to the Mayo Clinic,” he would say. “You can get the same quality right here in Omaha at UNMC.”
When the university went through budget cuts one year, he was totally impressed with how Dr. Maurer handled it. The chancellor didn’t moan and groan and say the sky was falling. Instead, he called it a “bump in the road” and said UNMC would find a way to keep rolling.
Brown absolutely loved this response and made it a point to salute the chancellor on one of his radio shows.
Earlier this year, Brown gave me a call and invited my wife and I to join him at a rush party for the UNMC chapter of the Phi Rho Sigma medical fraternity. The party was at the home of Richard Forsman, M.D., a private practice, internal medicine physician for The Nebraska Medical Center and a clinical associate in UNMC’s Department of Family Medicine.
Brown, who was a good friend of Dr. Forsman, had gone to the party several years and was absolutely enthralled with the quality of medical students at UNMC.
“You cannot come away from an event like this without having faith that we are in excellent hands,” he said. “It’s a stark contrast from what we hear from the media about American youth today. These fabulous young people show that at least one segment of the American population is demonstrating that the American culture is not in trouble.”
In my mind, I can still hear those words rolling eloquently off Brownie’s tongue.
What a guy and what a friend of UNMC. He will be missed.