Lewis Herold Brown (February 13, 1894February 27, 1951) was an

industrialist A business magnate, also known as a tycoon, is a person who has achieved immense wealth through the ownership of multiple lines of enterprise. The term characteristically refers to a powerful entrepreneur or investor who controls, through perso ...

and former Chairman of Johns-Manville, once the world's largest manufacturer of

asbestos Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere b ...

and asbestos products.

Early life and career

Born in

Creston, Iowa Creston is a city in and the county seat of Union County, Iowa. The population was 7,536 at the time of the 2020 Census. History Creston was originally settled in 1868 as a survey camp for the Burlington and Missouri Railroad. It was named ...

on February 13, 1894, he attended the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

in 1915. Brown served in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

as an infantry captain during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. After the war, Brown was employed by

Montgomery Ward Montgomery Ward is the name of two successive U.S. retail corporations. The original Montgomery Ward & Co. was a world-pioneering mail-order business and later also a leading department store chain that operated between 1872 and 2001. The curren ...

and was promoted to Assistant General Operating Manager within eight years.

Johns-Manville and the Asbestos Institute

T.F. Merseles, the President of Montgomery Ward, left in 1928 to become President of

manufacturer

Johns Manville Johns Manville is an American company based in Denver, Colorado, that manufactures insulation, roofing materials and engineered products. For much of the 20th century, the then-titled Johns-Manville Corporation was the global leader in the ma ...

, taking Brown with him. Merseles died suddenly in 1930 and Brown was appointed president at the age of 35. He thereby became the youngest man ever to hold that position in the company's history. He was also President of the Asbestos Institute. Brown was awarded The Franklin Institute's Vermilye Medal in 1938. In April 1939, Brown was featured on the cover of

Time Magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on Mar ...

, with the caption "Businessman Brown -- Public Relations Begins at Home."

''A Report on Germany''

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Brown served as an advisor to General Levin H. Campbell, Jr. After

, at the request of General

Lucius D. Clay General Lucius Dubignon Clay (April 23, 1898 – April 16, 1978) was a senior officer of the United States Army who was known for his administration of occupied Germany after World War II. He served as the deputy to General of the Army Dwight D ...

, Brown wrote a book entitled "

A Report on Germany After World War II, in 1947 Lewis H. Brown wrote at the request of General Lucius D. Clay ''A Report on Germany'', which served as a detailed recommendation for the reconstruction of post-war Germany, and served as a basis for the Marshall Plan. ...

" (Farrar, Straus and Company, New York, 1947), which served as a detailed recommendation for the reconstruction of post-war Germany, and served as a basis for the

Marshall Plan The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred over $13 billion (equivalent of about $ in ) in economic re ...

Later life

Brown founded the American Enterprise Association (AEA) in New York, a think tank which later moved to Washington, D.C., and was renamed the American Enterprise Institute. He served as AEA's chairman until his death. Brown also co-founded the

Tax Foundation The Tax Foundation is an American think tank based in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1937 by a group of businessmen in order to "monitor the tax and spending policies of government agencies". The Tax Foundation collects data and publishes ...

and served as chairman. Brown died from a heart ailment on February 27, 1951, at age 57, in Delray Beach, Florida. He was buried in Putnam Cemetery in Greenwich CT.

Controversy

In 1984, thirty-three years after Brown's death, Johns-Manville was alleged to have prioritized profits over the health and safety of employees during the time of his leadership. According to testimony given in a federal court by Charles H. Roemer, formerly an employee of Unarco, describing a meeting between Unarco officials, Lewis H. Brown and J-M attorney Vandiver Brown in the early 1940s, "I’ll never forget, I turned to Mr. Brown, one of the Browns made this crack (that Unarco managers were a bunch of fools for notifying employees who had

asbestosis Asbestosis is long-term inflammation and pulmonary fibrosis, scarring of the human lung, lungs due to asbestos, asbestos fibers. Symptoms may include shortness of breath, cough, wheezing, and chest pain, chest tightness. Complications may include ...

), and I said, ‘Mr.Vandiver Brown do you mean to tell me you would let them work until they dropped dead?’ He said, ‘Yes. We save a lot of money that way.'" Testimony of Charles H. Roemer, Deposition taken April 25, 1984, Johns-Manville Corp., et al. v. the United States of America, U.S. Claims Court Civ. No. 465-83C, cited in Barry I. Castleman, Asbestos: Medical and Legal Aspects, 4th edition, Aspen Law and Business, Englewood Cliffs, NJ 1996, p.581

References

External links

Johns Manville historical publications archived by JM Retirees AssociationAmerican Enterprise Institute
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Lewis American Enterprise Institute 1894 births 1951 deaths Asbestos People from Creston, Iowa