Dr. Brown F Williams of Conway, MA, died at age 75 on July 1 at Cooley Dickinson Hospital. Brown was a skilled physicist who described himself as “a technical guy.” He engaged his talents in three successful careers, starting with twenty-three years as a leading research scientist at RCA Labs managing the Electro-Optics Laboratory in Princeton, New Jersey. When GE bought the company Brown left to co-found Princeton Video Image, Inc. (PVI), patenting the computer system that digitally inserts virtual billboards and ads into sporting events and other live broadcasts. The most familiar application is the First Down Line seen in NFL games. The major work of his last years was developing and promoting solar power applications, including overseeing the building of American factories in China and consulting to various start-ups and to the Department of Energy.
Brown was born December 22, 1940, in Illinois, but as he told it, was lucky enough to grow up in California in the 1950s, benefiting from access to the greatest public education system in the world. He graduated from Alhambra High School and went on to earn undergraduate and graduate degrees in Physics from the University of California, Riverside, finishing his doctorate in a record three years in 1966. While a student he worked in the Citrus Experiment Station, grafting naval orange shoots onto Valencia rootstock. He estimates he may have produced several thousand trees during his undergraduate years, many of them still bearing today.
Inseparable from his love of physics was his love of sailing and the sea. A great believer in learning by doing, he learned to sail and speak French at the same time, signing on to deliver yachts in the Mediterranean. Thirty years ago he purchased “Delices”, a Benneteau First 38, which he sailed and maintained in Virgin Gorda until his death. He will be missed by many longstanding friends in the Islands, some of whom he watched grow up. He was always interested in education as the means to better one’s life, and was a revered mentor and source of inspiration to many young people.
Brown loved music, enjoyed season tickets to the Metropolitan Opera, played the oboe and taught himself the banjo using Pete Seeger’s book. He was a great sports fan and taught his wife Virginia to be one, too. He was handy, and didn’t mind when things broke because he enjoyed fixing them.
He is survived by his beloved wife, Virginia McDonald Sullivan, his two daughters, Eden McCarthy, of Talent, Oregon, and Bronwyn Emily Williams, of Worcester, MA, his step-children, Phineas Barnes of San Francisco and Katharine Barnes of Brookline, MA, three grandchildren, his brother Peter Williams of East Setauket, New York, and his brother’s three daughters. He was pre-deceased by his wife Sandra Matkowska Williams in 2000.
His life will be celebrated at a memorial service 11 AM October 1 at First Church of Deerfield, 71 Old Main St., Deerfield, MA. 01342. In lieu of flowers, the family would be grateful for gifts to The Brown Williams Undergraduate Student Award Fund, , University of California Riverside Office of Development, 900 University Ave. MC063, Riverside, CA 92521, or The American Association for the Advancement of Science ([email protected]).
