Train, Russell Eroll, 1920-2012

Conservationist, jurist, and EPA administrator.

Russell Errol Train was born in Jamestown, Rhode Island, on June 4, 1920. He graduated from Princeton University (B.A., 1941), and from Columbia University Law School (L.L.B., 1948). He held positions on various Congressional committees (1949-1956) and was a judge for the United States Tax Court (1957-1965). Train founded the Wildlife Leader Foundation (1959), the African Wildlife Foundation (1961), and served as the first vice-president of the World Wildlife Fund, Inc.-U.S. (1961), president of The Conservation Foundation (1965-1969), under secretary of the Department of the Interior (1969-1970), chair of the Council on Environmental Quality (1969-1973), second administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency during the Nixon administration (1973-1977), president (1978-1985) and chair (1985-1994) of the World Wildlife Fund-U.S.

Russell Eroll Train was born in June 1920 in Jamestown, Rhode Island, a son of Navy Rear Admiral Charles R. Train and Errol C. Brown. In 1954, he married Aileen Bowdoin. In 1941, he received a BA in politics from Princeton University and, after serving in the Army during World War II, received an LL.B. in 1948 from Columbia University Law School. From 1948 to 1965 he served as legal advisor for the Congressional Joint Committee of the House Ways and Means; Chief Counsel, then Minority Advisor to the same committee; and Assistant to the Secretary of the Treasury and chief of the department's tax legislative staff. In 1957 President Dwight Eisenhower asked the 37 year old lawyer to complete an unexpired term as U.S. Tax Court Judge, following which President John F. Kennedy chose him for a full 12 year appointment. In 1959, Train founded and served as head of the African Wildlife Leadership Foundation. He later became president of the Conservation Foundation. In 1968, he was appointed to the National Water Commission by President Lyndon Johnson. In 1969 President Richard M. Nixon appointed him as Under Secretary of the Interior to balance appointments that other environmentalists strongly opposed. As Under Secretary, he dealt efficiently with controversial issues including the Trans-Alaska pipeline and he led the Alaska Pipeline Intergovernmental Task Force. He urged Congress to create the Council on Environmental Quality, and was soon made chairman by President Nixon. This council identified major environmental problems and urged for strong federal policy to help with their solutions. He became administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1973. In this position, he openly disagreed with the Nixon administration for attempting to prevent enforcement of environmental laws. He also became involved in the energy debate of the time, in which he pushed for government involvement in conserving such resources and at the same time reducing water pollution. In 1977, he retired from his position at EPA and returned to the Conservation Foundation. In 1978 he was named president and chief executive officer of the World Wildlife Fund (U.S.) and became its chairman of the board in 1985. On November 18, 1991, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George H. W. Bush.

Obadiah Bruen Brown arrived in the city of Washington in 1807 as the first pastor of the First Baptist Church. The same year Obadiah Brown become pastor he also began working at the Post Office Department (eventually becoming Chief of the Contract Division) and was elected chaplain of the House of Representatives. He married Elizabeth Riley Jackson in 1808. In 1820, Brown was an active delegate to the Baptist General Convention in Philadelphia, where it was decided to open a Baptist institution of higher education in the District of Columbia. On February 9, 1821, President James Monroe signed the legislation that passed Congress granting a charter for the Columbian College (now George Washington University) which opened later that year. Brown served as the first President of the Board of Trustees of the college. Other members of the Brown family included in this collection include William Van Horne Brown (Brown's son), Thomas B. Brown (another son), and George Whitfield Brown (a grandson). Most of the information about the Brown family in this biography comes from Russell Train's book The Train Family (Special Collections CT274.T73 T73 2000), relating the history of the Brown family.

Biographical Note