Mr. Brown created a legacy for Appalachia

By Noel McLaughlin, July 2015

When Edward G. Brown, Jr., was a little boy growing up in southeastern Kentucky, he recalled walking to school past some children whose abject poverty was upsetting. While not from a wealthy family, he immediately recognized the huge differences between his comfortable, middle-class existence and the extremely poor living conditions of some citizens in his home state.

Many years later, Brown told Sue LeLievre, NCCF regional director for the west, that he remembered thinking to himself even then, as a child, that someone should do something for those poor children and their families’ sad living conditions.

Fast forward through years as a successful civil engineer in a career that took Brown all over the world. Much of his professional life was spent in the Bahamas and Libya.

By the time he retired to Clay County in a region of North Carolina not unlike southeast Kentucky, he was ready to remember the poverty-stricken families who had made such an impression. After his wife died he created a fund in her memory in 1997. The Margaret and Edward Brown endowment was established to benefit the children of Appalachia, both in Kentucky and North Carolina.

LeLievre recalled a man who initially seemed very quiet. “He kept to himself until you got to know him,” she said. But when the trust was established, she soon learned of his philanthropic interests and the expectations he had of his grant recipients. “Like most engineers, he paid attention to detail,” she said. He was very interested in education and ensuring that basic life needs were being met among the mountain populations in both Kentucky and North Carolina. “He wanted to know who he was giving to and what they were doing with his money,” she said.

One fortunate organization that benefits from Brown’s fund is Communities in Schools in Clay County. Theresa Waldroup, executive director, recalled that her initial visit with him was full of many questions. “I was very glad I had come prepared with my big notebook full of all of our documents,” she said. He asked to see their budget, IRS Form 990, 501(c)3 documentation and the results of their participation in a national pilot. And once he made the decision to grant to CIS, he wanted annual reports on where his money was being allocated.

Beyond his rightful expectation of accountability, Waldroup began to see a man who truly cared. “He wasn’t just asking to know how we spent his money,” she said. “He was truly interested in the kids.” LeLievre remembered seeing handwritten thank-you notes from children throughout Clay County and Kentucky that decorated his home.

Students playing instruments provided with Brown's support.

Waldroup said the grants from Brown’s endowment make a huge impact in Clay County. One example is in the arts, which had suffered from years of budget cuts. His grants provided new or refurbished musical instruments for the band program that is offered to middle- through high-school students. One student who finally had the benefit of a working French horn was able to take her musical talent all the way to a state competition, which was a happy occurrence in a rural county that hadn’t seen any new band instruments in 20 years!

Brown's vision for what philanthropy could do for the less fortunate in southern Appalachia was big – and far-reaching. Jennifer Tolle Whiteside, NCCF President and CEO, said it is an honor to be entrusted with a legacy of this magnitude.

“The trust that Mr. Brown put in us to make sure that his charitable wishes were met during his lifetime and after is truly humbling,” she said

This post was updated in March 2024.