It is with sadness that I write to let you know that John Brown died at the end of June after a courageous year of cancer treatment. Last month I signed documents acknowledging my new role as President of John Brown Limited. For those of you I haven’t had a chance to know personally, I had the incredible privilege of being happily married to John for over twenty years and sharing professionally with him the joy of helping many organizations raise money as well as helping many donors make generous gifts. In my case I have chosen to do that work in higher education at my alma mater Columbia, at Harvard, and at the University of Michigan. John, of course, multiplied his impact by educating several thousand of us in his seminars as well as working with more than 500 non-profits as his clients in his 33 years at the helm of JBL.
This is a transition with understandably many emotions for all of us at JBL, but we want you to know that we continue to be committed to the same values and philosophy that animated every day of John’s work. In that spirit we have set up a website link so that we can collect your comments and stories about John and his influence on all of us. I have received some wonderful messages and letters detailing a story here and a career there in which John’s involvement played a key part. John always encouraged us to have our donors give us a quote about why they made their gift. We want to encourage you to give us your anecdote or remembrance about why John made a difference for you.
In the meantime, I want you to know that JBL goes on. John’s long time senior consultant Doug Smith continues as an active member of the JBL team with several current client relationships. I began some consulting through JBL last year as I transitioned at Columbia from a front-line management role to a more advisory position. Nancy Zanga, Donna Menard and Jennifer McDonald continue to provide superb management and leadership at JBL in Peterborough, New Hampshire. We are talking to other colleagues about reviving a new version of the John Brown Seminars. While we can never fill John’s truly unique shoes on major gifts and planned giving, we bring a lot of development and campaign leadership experience to the table. We will keep you posted on those plans, and we welcome your thoughts about the challenges and issues we might help address for your professional growth and success.
John has left us a remarkable legacy that demystifies philanthropy and that draws us in the world of creatively matching donors’ interests with our organizations’ goals and priorities. He loved every day of his consulting work and his seminars. We will continue to look for opportunities to promote that legacy.
Sincerely,
Susan Feagin
