Necrology

James Carlton Brown '51

Jun. 25, 1929-Aug. 13, 2022

James Carlton Brown ’51 died on Aug. 13, 2022, in Tucson, Ariz. Born on June 25, 1929, in Pulaski, N.Y., Jim came to Hamilton from Pulaski High School. On the Hill, he was a member of Psi Upsilon fraternity and majored in English literature while also completing all required pre-med courses.

Jim was active on campus. He played football all four years, basketball as a sophomore and junior, and baseball in his junior year. He sang in the College Choir during his first three years and was a member of the Chapel Board his final two years. He was part of Biology Club for his sophomore through senior years. A member of the Doers & Thinkers honor society as a sophomore, in his senior year he was on both the Interfraternity Council and the Student Council, and was elected to Pentagon. He served as class president and won the James Soper Merrill Prize for typifying the highest ideals of the College.

From Hamilton, Jim proceeded to medical school at the University of Rochester where he prepared to become a general practitioner. Completing his degree in 1955, he then interned at Rochester’s Genesee Hospital for two years. On April 6, 1957, he married Joan Eleanor Staub in Rochester. They had three daughters and two sons. 

Jim was inducted into the Army Medical Corps in 1957 and served in Germany for two years. Joan was able to accompany him. He oversaw a dispensary on an air base once used by the Luftwaffe.

Honorably discharged in 1959 with the rank of captain and having earned an Army Commendation Award, Jim and Joan settled in Canton, N.Y., where he opened a private practice in family medicine. Over the next 15 years he cared for patients in his office, at a local hospital, and, when necessary, in their homes. Sometimes during the winter, he made house calls on his snowmobile. During his time in Canton, he delivered more than 1,000 babies. Among other activities, he was elected to the board of directors of the Canton Savings & Loan Association. As a sole practitioner, his work came to demand more and more of his time and energy. When efforts to add a second doctor to his office proved futile, there came a point in 1973 when he concluded that he needed to make a change.

Returning to the University of Rochester, Jim entered a three-year radiation oncology residency program, a choice quite possibly prompted by the death of his mother from lung cancer. Completing the program in 1976 and after considering other possible destinations, Jim and his family moved to Phoenix, where he worked at Good Samaritan Hospital and treated cancer patients until he retired in 1991.

Jim remained active. He was a golfer, was never without the companionship of a dog, and immersed himself in reading and music. A houseboat on Lake Powell was the focus of regular family get-togethers.

He served the College as a member of his class and 45th reunion gift committees, as a Career Center volunteer, and as a regular donor to the Hamilton Fund. In his 50th reunion yearbook, he recalled: “Dinners in faculty homes, remarkably good friends, and fun fraternities. John Baldwin’s amazing improvisations for 45 minutes before Sunday night chapel, where I was privileged to sing in the choir. The lifelong pride of having attended such a fine college with its capacity to hustle, enrich, broaden, and discipline our stumbling forward to our respective maturities.” The College’s impact for him was, “immeasurable! It was perhaps the most important four years of my life. Thank you. Thank you.”

James C. Brown is survived by his wife, five children, and 12 grandchildren.

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