Kevin Brown, veteran and longtime RVC fireman, dies at 70

Kevin Brown, an Air Force veteran and dedicated member of the Rockville Centre Police Department, died on June 28 from cancer. He was 70.

Brown was born on March 8, 1947 and grew up in New Hyde Park. He earned an education degree from Pace University and taught special education at Boys and Girls High School in Brooklyn, before getting his administration degree. He then served as the assistant principal at East Islip High School and retired, eventually moving to Rockville Centre, where he joined the village’s fire department in 1996. He was also a longtime business professor at Empire State College until the end of his life.

“It was always others before himself,” Brown’s son Russell said. “That’s how he lived life. He never wanted to inconvenience anybody.”

As a 21-year member of the Rockville Centre Fire Department, Brown was the captain of the Fire Police, a squad that helps secure the scene of a fire, and assists the police department as well by responding to accidents. He was also an emergency medical technician, and served for many years as secretary of the department’s Woodland Engine Company No. 4.

Rockville Centre Fire Chief Brian Cook described Brown as a friendly, outgoing and helpful guy. “He’s the kind of guy that literally you could not find anybody to say a bad thing about him,” Cook said. “He was one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met in my life. He was always willing to help people, never caused a problem, and always looked for solutions.”

Frank Colon Jr., commander of Rockville Centre American Legion Post 303, and a member of Woodland Engine Company No. 4, worked with Brown over the years. When Colon served as Fire Police captain, Brown was his first lieutenant.

“He was a great guy,” Colon put it simply. “Very conscientious. …He was a true legionnaire, a veteran. Community, state and nation — that was on his mind.”

Brown served in the Air Force Reserve for four years, according to Colon, where he helped secure SR-71 Blackbirds — strategic reconnaissance aircrafts — at Griffiss Air Force Base in Rome, N.Y. Russell said his father also worked in the Reserve’s weather department.

Colon said that Brown joined the fire department later on in his life because he loved serving the community. “We would always talk; we’re veterans, so we had something in common,” he noted. “…He was a caring individual, he was a good man, and he’s going to be missed.”

In addition to serving the community as a member of the fire department, Brown was involved with Kiwanis Club, and volunteered at the Ronald McDonald House and South Nassau Communities Hospital, according to Russell. He also owned Corvettes throughout his life and was part of the Long Island Corvette Owners Association. He would attend outings and car shows, Russell recalled.

Many people came to pay their respects to Brown at his wake on July 6 at Thomas A. Glynn & Son Funeral Home, Russell said, including members of the fire department, his students from Empire State College, and staff from East Islip schools.

“If he has this big of an effect on the everyone in the community, you can only imagine how big of an effect he had on our family life, so it was very touching,” Russell said of the turnout. “It’s a great sendoff…and something he deserved, because he was always putting people before him and finally people got to recognize how he [affected] everyone else.”

In addition to Russell, and his wife, Alicia, of West Islip, Brown is survived by his wife Maureen Brown, of Rockville Centre, who he married in 1988; his son Jason Brown, who lives in London; his stepdaughter Katrina and her husband Samuel Pizarro, of Bellmore; grandchildren Ryan and Samuel Brown; and his ex-wife Eileen McKeown.