Charles Manley Brown Jr. (November 20, 1902 – 19 May 1995) was a long-time

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, sometimes called Charlie Brown.

Biography

Charlie Brown was born in Birmingham, Alabama, the third child and second son of storekeeper Charles Manley Brown Sr., and Mamie Susan "Sook" Fickett Brown. His father died in 1904, five months before the birth of their fifth child. Charles Sr.'s father, Henry Hart Brown, had been a journalist, lawyer, and politician, serving several terms in the Alabama state legislature and one term as sheriff. A graduate of

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

, Brown was a

commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...

Fulton County, Georgia Fulton County is located in the north-central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 1,066,710, making it the state's most-populous county and its only one with over one million inhabi ...

(where Atlanta is the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

) from 1941 to 1948, and from 1966 to 1979. He served as

chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

of the commission from 1945 to 1947 and 1976 to 1978, and at other times during 1966, 1968, 1971, and 1974. He also served as a state senator from Fulton County in the

Georgia General Assembly The Georgia General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is bicameral, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Each of the General Assembly's 236 members serve two-year terms and are directly ...

from 1957 to 1964, and retired from politics in 1979. He had also run for

mayor of Atlanta Here is a list of mayors of Atlanta, Georgia. The mayor is the highest elected official in Atlanta. Since its incorporation in 1847, the city has had 61 mayors. The current mayor is Andre Dickens who was elected in the 2021 election and took o ...

three times. He also served on the Fulton-DeKalb Hospital Authority which oversees

Grady Memorial Hospital Grady Memorial Hospital, frequently referred to as Grady Hospital or simply Grady, is the public hospital for the city of Atlanta. It is the tenth-largest public hospital in the United States, and one of the busiest Level I trauma centers in th ...

. He was also involved in many other programs, including starting both MARTA and

Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium, often referred to as Fulton County Stadium and originally named Atlanta Stadium, was a multi-purpose stadium in the southeastern United States, located in Atlanta. The stadium was home of the Atlanta Braves of the ...

. He was also involved in the creation of the Fulton County Airport at west Atlanta, which was named Charlie Brown Field in his honor.

Personal life

Brown married Elise Anderson. They had two daughters.Bryant, James C., ''Charlie Brown remembers Atlanta: Memoirs of a Public Man'', rear book jacket flap; The R. L. Bryan Company, 1982

References

1902 births 1995 deaths Georgia Tech alumni Fulton County commissioners 20th-century American politicians {{GeorgiaUS-politician-stub