1965 Shelburne Brown brings his unique leadership style to campus.

Brown had an expansive personality. He learned to enjoy hunting while his father pastored in Colorado, yet he was also a product of Los Angeles and moved as easily in the big city as Bresee had two generations earlier. He was a pilot and flew often with his good friend Wes Mieras. He skied and golfed, loving the exertion and competition of sports from the days when he was quarterback for the college intramural football teams, competing with Gene Stowe, Orville Jenkins, and Ponder Gilliland. He read constantly, averaged his goal of one book a week, kept systematic notes for sermons and speeches, and memorized poetry.

Shelburne Brown was a new kind of leader. He did not come to the office deluded by a belief in his own spiritual superiority or administrative mastery and expertise, and operate an imperial presidency. He operated a process-centered institution and relied on the counsel of close advisers. Robert Foster would become one. L. Paul Gresham would become another. Attorney Wes Mieras would become the third. These four had their own personalities, their own basis of judgment, and their own source of influence. Initially Brown relied on them, then balanced them, and then reached beyond them.

From For Zion's Sake, by Ron Kirkemo



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