The Honorable
Timothy Brown
18th Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court
In office
May 18, 1962  January 1, 1964
Preceded byGrover L. Broadfoot
Succeeded byGeorge R. Currie
Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court
In office
July 14, 1949  January 1, 1964
Appointed byOscar Rennebohm
Preceded byJohn D. Wickhem
Succeeded byBruce F. Beilfuss
Personal details
Born(1889-02-24)February 24, 1889
Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.
DiedDecember 31, 1977(1977-12-31) (aged 88)
Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.
Resting placeForest Hill Cemetery
Madison, Wisconsin
Political partyRepublican
Spouses
  • Margaret Seymour Titchener
    (m. 1921; died 1936)
  • Louise Coxon
    (m. 1936; died 1977)
Children
  • Timothy Brown Jr.
  • (b. 1922; died 1977)
Education
ProfessionLawyer
Military service
AllegianceUnited States
Branch/serviceUnited States Navy
Battles/warsWorld War I

Timothy Brown Sr. (February 24, 1889  December 31, 1977) was an American lawyer and jurist from Madison, Wisconsin. He was the 18th chief justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court (19621963), and served a total of 14 years on the court. Before joining the court, he was executive legal counsel to governors Walter S. Goodland and Oscar Rennebohm, the latter appointed him to the Supreme Court.[1]

Biography

Born in Madison, Wisconsin, Brown graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. During World War I, Brown served in the United States Navy. Brown practiced law in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and served as executive counsel to the Governor of Wisconsin.[2] In 1949, he joined the Wisconsin Supreme Court and in 1962 became chief justice of the court, retiring in 1964.[3][4][5]

He became chief justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court by rule of seniority on May 18, 1962, after the death of Chief Justice Grover L. Broadfoot. At the time he became chief justice, he was already expected to step down at the end of 1963, when his current term expired. This was due to a 1955 amendment to the state constitution, which set 70 as a mandatory retirement age for state judges.[6][note 1]

Personal life and family

On June 29, 1921, Timothy Brown married Margaret Seymour Titchener, at her parents' home in Ithaca, New York. Margaret Titchener was the eldest daughter of psychologist Edward B. Titchener. They met at the University of Wisconsin, while she was working on the staff of the Romance language department, where she earned her Ph.D.[7] They had one son together, Timothy Jr. Margaret suffered from a long illness in the 1930s and died at age 40 in February 1936.[8]

Later that year, on July 16, Brown married Louise Coxon, daughter of a prominent Madison family. Louise was a dress designer, and had studied under Bradshaw Crandell.[9]

Brown, his second wife, and his son all died in the last quarter of 1977. Brown's son, Timothy Jr., followed his mother in the study of Romance languages and taught Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Arizona for 25 years. During World War II, he served as a first lieutenant in the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division. He died in Arizona at age 55 after suffering from a respiratory disease.[10][11]

Brown's wife, Louise, died on December 5, 1977, at age 71, after 41 years of marriage. At the time of her death, she was celebrated as a civic leader and patron of the arts in Madison.[12] Timothy Brown died just a few weeks later, in a nursing home in Madison, on December 31, 1977.[3][13] He left an estate valued at $3 million (about $15 million adjusted for inflation to 2024). He was survived by three granddaughters.[14]

Notes

  1. To avoid confusion on this point, the mandatory retirement age implemented in 1955 was repealed by another amendment in 1977, which instead said the legislature could set a mandatory retirement age. The legislature has never implemented this, which is why there is no mandatory retirement age for Wisconsin judges since 1977.

References

  1. "Brown, Timothy 1889". Wisconsin Historical Society. Retrieved January 5, 2024.
  2. Google books Wisconsin Session Laws, Volume 2. Timothy Brown
  3. 1 2 "Timothy Brown Dies; Former State Chief Justice". The Post Crescent. January 4, 1978. p. 5. Retrieved April 22, 2019 via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  4. Wicourts.gov
  5. Wisconsin Historical Society
  6. "Timothy Brown". Racine Journal Times. May 24, 1962. p. 10. Retrieved January 5, 2024 via Newspapers.com.
  7. "To Spend Summer in Europe". The Capital Times. July 16, 1921. p. 6. Retrieved January 5, 2024 via Newspapers.com.
  8. "Mrs. Timothy Brown, Wife of Lawyer, Dies". The Capital Times. February 17, 1936. p. 1. Retrieved January 5, 2024 via Newspapers.com.
  9. "Miss Louise Coxon and Timothy Brown Make Plans for Marriage on July 16". The Capital Times. July 1, 1936. p. 10. Retrieved January 5, 2024 via Newspapers.com.
  10. "Brown, Timothy Jr". The Capital Times. October 17, 1977. p. 26. Retrieved January 5, 2024 via Newspapers.com.
  11. "Language professor dies at 55". Arizona Daily Star. October 14, 1977. p. 17. Retrieved January 5, 2024 via Newspapers.com.
  12. "Brown, Mrs. Timothy (Louise)". The Capital Times. December 6, 1977. p. 3. Retrieved January 5, 2024 via Newspapers.com.
  13. "Former State Chief Justice Brown dies". The Capital Times. January 3, 1978. p. 1. Retrieved January 5, 2024 via Newspapers.com.
  14. "Tim Brown Estate Totals $3 Million". The Capital Times. November 20, 1978. p. 27. Retrieved April 23, 2019 via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.