Friday, July 27, 2018

VALÉ - WARREN BROWN

This week I lost another good friend, Warren Brown, who wrote about autos for The Washington Post, which he joined in 1978.

He was originally hired for the main news desk, but just a couple of years later he asked to be given an exclusive column which he dedicated to cars, the car industry and car industry workers - he called it 'On Wheels'.

I first met Warren in 1994 becoming firm friends, and we communicated regularly, even after I retired from Bentley Motors North America in 2006.



The next time we sat down together for a lunch was at an event called 'The Quail - A Motorsports Gathering' in the Carmel Valley in 2003, when he told me he would be calling time on his permanent role at 'The Post', but he continued writing for the paper under contract.


He endured two kidney transplants, both from donors. The first was from his wife in 1999; and the second from a Post colleague in 2001. However, neither one solved his underlying health issues, and he continued on dialysis until his death on July 26 - he was just 70 years old.

Warren was not only an astute observer and journalist, but his writing revealed a very high quality of thought, insight, and integrity. I admired him greatly, and he will be remembered for his honesty, openess and intellect.

In 2005 in his column, the New Orleans-born Brown thanked both his kidney donors, but dismissed the thought that they 'saved his life'. He said: "You can't 'fix' anything permanently, stuff wears out. Old cars rust away, houses crumble, people die."

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