Martin K. Brown, former principal of the Greenfield School, community volunteer, mentor, traveler, has died at 97

Martin K. Brown, 97, of Philadelphia, the longtime principal of the Albert M. Greenfield School, a devoted community volunteer, travel consultant, Center City neighborhood pillar, and Army veteran, died Monday, July 11, of complications of dementia in his grandchildren’s home in West Chester.

Revered for his welcoming and charitable spirit, passion for education and community, and his ability to connect with others, Mr. Brown was beloved by alumni of the Center City and Greenfield schools, leaving an indelible mark on many young lives.

“He didn’t forget,” said Mr. Brown’s daughter, Karen Brown Vellucci. “He truly knew the name of every child in his school, every year... He really went out of his way to know not just the students, but their parents and their family situations.”

Mr. Brown was quick to offer a job reference, career advice, a joke, or a listening ear for his former students, Vellucci said, many of whom also lived in the neighborhood and would stop by to catch up and recount stories from their time at Greenfield. For decades and long into retirement, Mr. Brown swapped birthday cards every year with a student who shared his birth date, Feb. 28.

Born in Philadelphia in 1925, the fourth of eight children, Mr. Brown spent most of his early life in Haddon Heights, N.J. He attended the University of Pennsylvania — the first in his family to go to college — but his schooling was interrupted when he was drafted into the Army in 1943.

Mr. Brown served as a medic in the U.S. Army, 91st Infantry Division, in Italy through the end of World War II. He was awarded two Bronze Stars — one for heroism and one for meritorious service.

He would eventually return to Italy with his family, trekking along the path he walked in the war, paying tribute to his fallen American comrades and visiting the Italian families he had stayed with. For years, he exchanged Christmas presents with some of those families.

After the war, Mr. Brown returned to Penn to finish his schooling. There, he also met his future wife, Rita Giordano, who would become principal of the Girard School.

In 1954, Mr. Brown was selected as principal of the Center City School, the predecessor of the Greenfield School, where he would serve for 23 years. He also led the Youth Study Center on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway — a facility for youth awaiting court hearings.

In 1970, he became the first principal of the newly opened Greenfield School. There, Mr. Brown advocated for the school to include a junior high, and celebrated teaching students from a variety of backgrounds and with specialized education needs.

At Greenfield, Mr. Brown left behind his beloved garden and longtime home in Delaware County to live in the city near the school. Because he resided on the same block as many of his students, Vellucci said, “it was like he was principal 24/7.”

“He just always felt he was Mr. Brown,” Vellucci said, adding that it wasn’t uncommon for neighborhood parents to ask the principal to have a talk with their children if they were misbehaving. “He wouldn’t put the trash out if he didn’t have a tie on.”

Fran Danish, a longtime eighth grade English teacher at Greenfield, recalled how during teacher observation, Mr. Brown wouldn’t sit in the back of the classroom and silently take notes on her performance. Instead, she said, Mr. Brown would join her at the board, teaching alongside her, “always with added humor.”

He would invite students to his office for daily checks on their homework, or sometimes to play a game.

“He was 120% invested in every single person in that school,” remembered Seth Bach, a Greenfield student who grew up living next door to Mr. Brown and regarded him as “a second father.”

A neighborhood fixture, Mr. Brown and his wife were known for working the food booth at the annual Fitler Square Park Fair, slinging hot dogs, hamburgers, and lemon sticks.

Later, he coordinated volunteers for 11 years at WinterShelter through Trinity Memorial Church, which provides home-cooked meals to men experiencing homelessness.

After Mr. Brown retired from Greenfield in 1982, he headed the Philadelphia School for two years before changing course again.

Wanting to spend more time with his young grandson, Vincent, and to feed his passion for exploration, Mr. Brown became a travel agent — a venture he pursued until he was 93. Mr. Brown and his wife saw a total of 52 countries and flew around the world twice, often bringing friends on their adventures.

Those trips included visiting various sites dedicated to Napoleon Bonaparte, his favorite historical figure. At one point, his license plate read “H2OLOO” — Waterloo — in honor of the French military leader.

Mr. Brown loved reading history and reciting poetry, including from Rudyard Kipling’s “If” — which contained guidance by which he lived his life, Vellucci said. He always arrived early, enjoyed making silver jewelry, and loved to elaborately re-create movies from Spiderman to RoboCop with Vincent.

In addition to his daughter and grandson, Mr. Brown is survived by other family, including his great-grandchildren, Lilliana, Elle, and Lucie.

Services were July 16, and he was entombed with a small statue of Napoleon upon his request.

Donations in Mr. Brown’s name may be made to WinterShelter through Trinity Memorial Church.