Robert W. Brown Memorial -
Morton CUSD 709 Activities Fund
This fund was started in November of 2014 by Barbara Brown in memory of her late husband, Robert W. Brown.. The fund's purpose is to to make annual grants to the Morton School District to assist in providing scholarships for qualifying junior high and high school students who wish to enroll in athletic, academic, visual arts, performing arts, and/or music programs. The purpose of the Endowment shall be accomplished, by way of illustration and not by limitation, by defraying the activity fees for students to participate in extra-curricular activities, competitions, etc., when their parents/caregivers cannot afford the associated fees.
Morton - Robert W. Brown, 68, of Morton, died at 4:45 p.m. Friday, Feb. 6, 2009, at OSF St. Francis Medical Center in Peoria.
He was born July 9, 1940, in Peoria to Genola Naumann Brown and Edwin W. Brown, Jr. He married Barbara Kay Black on Jan. 3, 1960, in Indianapolis. She survives.
Also surviving are his mother, Genola Naumann Brown Edwards; children, Robert W. Brown, Jr. (Sarah) of Washington, Martin T. Brown (Julie) of Eagle, Idaho, David A. Brown (Suzanne) of Morton, Katherine B. Bowers (Scott) of Long Grove, Ill.; and grandsons, Steffan W. Brown, Mitchell R. Brown, Walker T. Brown, Andrew D. Brown, Anthony S. Brown, Hunter T. Brown, Jonathon S. Bowers and Andrew J. Bowers.
He was preceded in death by his father.
He graduated from Washington Community High School in 1958 and attended Purdue University, where he was initiated into Phi Gamma Delta.
After graduating from Bradley University in 1963, Bob worked for IBM and Howard Printing Company before starting to work at Morton Federal Savings and Loan in 1973. He retired from Bank Plus in 2001 as CEO and chairman of the board.
Bob earned an MBA from Bradley in 1989 and has been a member of the Foster College of Business Administration's National Council of Advisors since 1999.
He was a member of St. Mark's Lutheran Church in Washington, where he served as co-chair of the building committee, two terms on the church council, and on the long range planning and finance committees.
A member of the Morton Chamber of Commerce, he chaired the Morton Pumpkin Festival in 1976, was a member of chamber board of directors from 1989 to 1994 and received the chamber's Distinguished Service Award in 2000.
He served on the board of the American Red Cross, Central Illinois Chapter, from 1995 to 2005, as board chair from 2001 to 2003, on the State Service Council from 2000 to 2004 and one term on the national American Red Cross nominating committee.
Bob served as a member of the We Care Foundation board, helped form the Morton Youth Baseball Association and the Beta Phi chapter of Phi Gamma Delta at Bradley. He was a member of Washington's 12th Man. He was an honorary member of the Morton Rotary Club and a Paul Harris Fellow and a member of Taylor Lodge 98 AF & AM in Washington.
If you would like to make a tax deductible donation to this endowment fund, please click the button below for online donations. Or, you can mail a check to 135 S First Ave, Morton, IL 61550.