Brown, Lee P. (Lee Patrick), 1937-

Dates:

Birth 1937-10-04

Gender:

Male

Nationality: Americans

Language: English

Biographical notes:

Lee Patrick Brown (born October 4, 1937) is an American politician, criminologist and businessman. A member of the Democratic Party, he dserved as the 59th Mayor of Houston, Texas- the first African American to hold the position- from 1998 to 2004.

Born in Wewoka, Oklahoma, his family moved to California in the second wave of the Great Migration. He received a B.A. in criminology from Fresno State University in California in 1960 and four years later earned an M.A. from San Jose State University in the same field. In 1970 he received a Ph.D. in criminology from the University of California, Berkeley. Brown began working as a patrol officer for the San Jose Police Department during his college years. In 1968, he took a teaching post at Portland State University in Oregon. In 1972, Brown was appointed associate director of the Institute for Urban Affairs and Research at Howard University in Washington, D.C., a job he held until 1975. Brown returned to Oregon and became a deputy sheriff for Multnomah County, Oregon for two years. By 1976, he was named the Director of the Multnomah County Department of Justice. As public safety commissioner of Atlanta, Georgia, from 1978 to 1982, Brown and his staff cracked the Atlanta Child Murders case.

As Houston, Texas’ chief of police from 1982 to 1990, Brown developed Neighborhood Oriented Policing, a program employing community policing techniques. From 1990 to 1992, he was police commissioner of New York City. President Clinton appointed Brown director of the White House Office of National Drug Policy or “Drug Czar”, a cabinet level position from 1993 to 1996. After spending some time teaching at Texas Southern University and Rice University, Brown was elected mayor of Houston, Texas, in 1998. As mayor, he was able to build the Metro light rail system, attract a new NFL team, and expand his philosophy of neighborhood oriented government. Brown also advanced the city's affirmative action program; installed programs in city libraries to provide access to the Internet; built the state-of-the-art Houston Emergency Communications Center; implemented e-government, and opened new parks. He stepped down after serving three terms, the maximum number allowed.

Since leaving office, Brown has served as chairman and CEO of Brown Group International.