We are saddened to learn that Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, and one of the most instrumental faculty in building and maintaining the Asian Studies Center at the University of Pittsburgh, passed away at his home in Hawaii on July 24th, 2025. Keith Brown dedicated his career to learning about Japanese society and culture and taught generations of Pitt students about the value in understanding human diversity through ethnographic participant observation. His scholarly contribution is in having translated the experience of people living in the Japanese town of Mizusawa into terms that generalize their experience with modernization to the world as a whole. At the University of Pittsburgh Keith was a dedicated teacher and a strong, determined, and effective advocate for Asian Studies. While serving as Director of the Asian Studies Center in the 1980s he firmly established the strength upon which we continue to build.
In lieu of flowers, his family asks that donations be made to the Keith Brown and Ruth Brown Graduate Student Research Fund, or the L. Keith Brown Undergraduate Scholarship in Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh, through www.giveto.pitt.edu or by mail to the University of Pittsburgh, Office of Institutional Advancement. More information can be found below.
"Leonard Keith Brown, 92, died peacefully at his home in Hawaii Kai, Oahu on July 24, 2025. A beloved husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather, he was a friend to everyone he met. Keith was born in Ames Iowa and spent his childhood on the Iowa State University Department of Agronomy crop research farm run by his father, Charles Norman Brown, while his mother Verna Brown, was a schoolteacher, and later an administrative assistant at ISU. His parents taught Keith the value of hard work and education. Like his 2 brothers before him, he was the captain of the football team and student body president of Ames High School and soon joined them, along with his sister, at Iowa State University. At ISU he joined the choir of the Collegiate Presbyterian Church where he met the love of his life Ruth, whom he married in 1955, thus beginning 60 years of wedded bliss. Following graduation from ISU, he was commissioned into the Marine Corps and achieved the rank of Captain. He was fortunate to be stationed at Kaneohe Marine Corps Air Station in Hawaii where he and Ruth began their life together and their 2 sons were born. Keith was a proud marine and had the great honor of administering the oath of service to the National Guard to his granddaughter Alex in 2019.
Recognizing that he wanted to work in cultural studies, Keith applied to and was accepted into the graduate program of Anthropology at the University of Chicago, where he received his PhD in 1963. His daughter was born during exam week. He began his field work in Japanese studies in Mizusawa, Iwate Prefecture, Japan, where his hosts showed amazing hospitality to him and his young family, thus beginning a warm and abiding friendship with the people of Japan. His research was funded by the National Science Foundation, NIMH, Fullbright-Hays and over 50 years of repeated visits to Mizusawa he studied kinship patterns and cultural adaptation to industrial modernization. In 1966 he joined the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh and there began his more than 40-year career at Pitt where he became Chair of the Department of Anthropology and Director of Asian Studies. As chair of the Japan Council at Pitt, he was instrumental in developing strong economic ties between Pittsburgh and Japan. In 1995, he was honored with The Order of the Sacred Treasure bestowed by the Imperial Office in honor of his “outstanding contributions to furthering Japanese Studies and promoting academic exchange between Japan and the United States”.
While at Pitt, Keith taught the always popular Intro to Anthropology course, as well as many graduate level courses and became a mentor to many of his students. He always felt his lasting legacy at Pitt was to inspire and encourage many new generations of Anthropologists and Japan Studies experts. These students have become accomplished teachers and researchers in their own right and have repaid his efforts many times over.
After a sabbatical at the East West Center in Honolulu, HI, Keith and Ruth grew to love the islands and would spend half the year in Honolulu and half the year in Pittsburgh for the next 20 years. Keith permanently relocated to Honolulu in 2022 when he moved to the Ivy, a senior living facility in Hawaii Kai, HI. At the Ivy, he enjoyed the company of many bright and accomplished residents over leisurely meals in the Dining Room. In later years, his hearing deficit made communication more difficult, but he was never too shy to try.
Keith was on his college tennis team and his love for the sport endured over the next 6 decades even with his often-grueling travel schedule. He was a lifelong member of the Edgewood Tennis club and continued to play until his 80s. He especially enjoyed the after-tennis pizza dinners and developed some enduring friendships which have lasted to this day. After his retirement at the age of 70, he began to play golf more regularly and this became his new passion. His golf buddies in Pittsburgh and Honolulu became his best friends in life during his senior years.
Keith is predeceased by his beloved wife Ruth who passed away in 2016, his sister Elsie Huber, and his brothers Norman Brown and Wayne Brown. He is survived by his children Gordon (Rio) of Maui HI, Gary (Betty) of Glens Falls NY, Deborah of Houston TX, his grandchildren Matthew, Ryan (Erin), Kayla (Jeff), Noah (Hannah) and Alex, and 6 great grandchildren Elias Keith, Bo, Jayna, Ariella, Taelyn, and Ezekiel. He will be dearly missed by his family. His family would like to thank all his friends, colleagues, and students who helped to make his life so meaningful. A special thanks to the staff at The Ivy in Hawaii Kai who were attentive and kind in his final years.
A private burial will be held at the National Cemetery of the Pacific, Honolulu, Hawaii where he will be interred next to his wife Ruth. A Celebration of Life service will take place sometime later. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the Keith Brown and Ruth Brown Graduate Student Research Fund, or the L. Keith Brown Undergraduate Scholarship in Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh, through www.giveto.pitt.edu or by mail to the University of Pittsburgh, Office of Institutional Advancement, 128 N. Craig St. Pittsburgh PA 15260."
Professor Emeritus of Anthropology Keith Brown passes