Washington Post
Saturday, August 17, 2002; Page B06 
 

Jesse Brown, 58, a Vietnam veteran and former Disabled American Veterans official who served as secretary of veterans affairs from 1993 to 1997, died Aug. 15 at his home in Warrenton.

He had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, and lower motor neuron syndrome, which attacks nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord.

At the VA, the second-largest cabinet agency, Mr. Brown liked to call himself the secretary "for" veterans affairs and said he had won several battles with Congress because "we hold the high moral ground."

Mr. Brown was born in Detroit and raised in Chicago. He was an honors graduate of Chicago City College. He enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1963. Two years later, he was wounded when an enemy bullet shattered his right arm while on patrol in Da Nang. His arm was left partially paralyzed.

In 1967, he was back in Chicago, where he joined the staff of the DAV, a 1.4 million-member advocacy group for veterans with service-connected disabilities. He transferred to Washington in 1973.

He rose through the DAV ranks, to national appeals office supervisor to deputy national service director. From 1988 to 1993, he was executive director.

Then-Rep. G.V. "Sonny" Montgomery (D-Miss.), who was chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said of Mr. Brown's 1992 selection to the VA post that Brown was "the best possible choice . . . in these crucial times."

Mr. Brown was also an ideal choice for Bill Clinton, who had never served in the military and was distrusted by many in the military because of his efforts to avoid the draft during the Vietnam War, his promises to cut the defense budget and his decision to lift the ban on gays in the armed forces.

In Mr. Brown, one of four blacks in the original Clinton Cabinet, veterans saw a man who would stand up for their interests.

During his years in office, he persuaded Clinton, in four annual federal budgets, to increase the VA's slice of the pie. Mr. Brown fought budget cuts favored by the Office of Management and Budget and Congress.

He managed to expand the benefits of Vietnam veterans who had been prisoners of war, been exposed to Agent Orange, radiation or mustard gas or suffered post-traumatic stress disorder. He also directed the VA to forge ahead on research on the causes of mysterious illnesses in Gulf War veterans.

Mr. Brown also managed something observers felt to be nearly impossible: He got the veterans' lobbies to accept the need to close VA medical facilities that were outdated, uneconomic or of less than top quality.

Changes made on his watch included the increasing ability of VA doctors to treat veterans for whatever ailed them, not just ailments from the line of duty. Reforms provided for the care of veterans' children with ailments linked to parental military service. Female veterans saw increasing attention paid to their health needs.

Upon leaving the VA, Mr. Brown said he wanted to be remembered as "someone who made a difference in the quality of veterans' lives."

After leaving office, he formed Brown & Associates, a planning and marketing consulting firm.

Survivors include his wife, Sylvia, of Warrenton; two children; his mother; a sister; and a granddaughter.