Morris Brown
Nov. 27, 1938-Feb. 2, 2024
Santa Barbara, California

Morris Brown was a scientist, entrepreneur, aviator and community activist. As a young boy in Bremen, Indiana, Morris showed the determination and curiosity which he would carry with him throughout his life. He built his own radios and loudspeakers and is remembered to have once pointed to the moon and said “I’m going to fly there one day.” His rigorous academic determination earned him a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan in three years, a Master’s of Science from the University of Wisconsin the following year, and a PhD in chemistry from Stanford just two years later, in 1962. He continued his research in organic chemistry at Harvard, working with Nobel Laureate Robert Woodward, and went on to teach briefly at Caltech. While at Caltech, he obtained his pilot’s license and met his wife Denise. Returning to Menlo Park, where he would reside for over 50 years, Morris worked briefly in the pharmaceutical industry before launching the avionics company Moavco, channeling his passions for flying and electronics into a business housed at the San Carlos Airport. In the early 1980s, Morris bought an original IBM PC and taught himself how to program. Moavco slowly transitioned into a small computer consulting business and moved to downtown Menlo Park. Morris was an avid ham radio enthusiast, known by his callsign N6DJM and, later, W6NP. In retirement, Morris was known as a champion of local civic causes and focused his energies on sensible development and reducing government waste. In the late 2000s and early 2010s, he became a vocal opponent of California's high-speed rail project, which he considered to be a boondoggle destined for failure. In 2024, to be closer to family, he moved to Santa Barbara where he passed away peacefully in his favorite chair on February 2 at the age of 85. He is survived by his wife Denise, his sons Frank and Benjamin, his grandchildren Jacob, Liam, Gena and Yuna, and his siblings Lewis, Harriet, and Enid.