David Bulluck Brown of Wilmington, Delaware, son of Werner and Bucie Brown, died peacefully in his home on January 22, 2024, at the age of 77. Born in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1946, he attended A.I. du Pont High School where he was a basketball and track star. He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he became a member of the Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity and graduated with Honors and Phi Beta Kappa in 1968. After his college graduation, he served in active duty in the United States Army Reserves. David’s high school friendships had led to meeting the love of his life, Gweneth Blacklock Brown, from Sharptown, New Jersey, and they married in 1969.
David attended the Law School at the University of Virginia, where Gwen also obtained her doctorate in education and child development. At UVA, David received many honors, including serving on the Managing Board of the Law Review, Order of the Coif, Lichnos Society, and the Lawyer’s Title Award, and he also volunteered as a mentor and tutor for students from underrepresented backgrounds. Upon graduation, he joined the Washington, DC firm, Covington & Burling, where he worked for seven years before returning to Wilmington to be closer to family and to join Potter Anderson & Corroon (now Potter Anderson). At Potter, David became a partner in 1981, served on the Executive Committee for more than 15 years, including as its Chair for a final 3 years, and remained Of Counsel until 2020.
David was strongly committed to issues of social justice, and, in addition to his paid work, he spent thousands of hours volunteering for related causes, with a particular focus on countering poverty, racism, and sexism. He co-founded Delaware Volunteer Legal Services and served as Board Chair and a Board Member for many years. Additionally, he served on the boards of the following nonprofit organizations: Washington Council of Lawyers (Executive Committee), Neighborhood Legal Services Program (DC), Delaware Theater Company (Executive Committee and Secretary), Downtown Wilmington Improvement Corp., Delaware Hospice, The Music School of Delaware, and Planned Parenthood of Delaware (Board Chair and member for 20 years). As a Board Member of the Delaware Historical Society, he championed the founding of The Mitchell Center for African American Heritage.
Further nonprofit committee memberships included the Combined Campaign for Justice (Campaign Chair), Delaware Supreme Court Rules Advisory Committee, Governor’s Re: Learning Partnership (Statewide Task Force on Education), Governor’s International Trade Counsel, and several committees and sections for the Delaware State Bar Association, and for UVA. His pro bono activities included Delaware Volunteer Legal Services, Neighborhood Legal Services Program (DC), Interracial Council for Business Opportunities of Greater Washington (DC), Presidential Clemency Board (DC), and ACLU (DC). A proud Democrat, David’s volunteer political positions included Legal Counsel for State of Delaware Clinton Presidential Campaign (1992), Legal Counsel for State of Delaware National Lawyers Council (DNC), and several finance committees including Joe Biden for Senate and Tom Carper for Governor.
David’s service to his fellow humans and to the community was widely recognized, including by the: Governor’s Volunteer of the Year Award; Delaware Bar Association’s Christopher W. White Distinguished Access to Justice Award, Distinguished Service Award, and Long Term Service Award; Planned Parenthood of Delaware’s Sonia Schorr Sloan Service Award; United Way of Delaware’s Alexis de Tocqueville Award; the ACLU of Delaware’s Gerald E. Kandler Award; Delaware Volunteer Legal Services’ Founder’s Award; and the Potter Anderson & Corroon Pro Bono Award.
David additionally supported Gwen in her social justice work, including participating in listening circles through Re-evaluation Counseling, and the United to End Racism and No Limits for Women projects. One of his greatest skills was his ability to listen, which allowed him to connect deeply and form many lasting friendships. He had a huge heart and immeasurable energy for helping his family and friends.
In his young adulthood, David enjoyed playing guitar and singing with friends, and, in more recent years, he often could be seen with his buddies on the golf course, carrying his clubs and walking nine or eighteen holes in all kinds of weather. David, Gwen, their daughter Ellie, and grandchildren Max and River loved riding their horses in New Jersey where Gwen grew up. David’s love of music was passed along to his grandchildren, and their family enjoyed traveling together to bluegrass and classical music festivals where Max and River would be performing on fiddle or violin. David’s other favorite pastime was fishing, particularly with his siblings, and there was no place better for that than near his grandmother’s cottage at Johnnie Mercer’s Pier in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, where the Brown family kept up a tradition of summer vacations together, with a crowd eventually exceeding 50 family members, many of whom also gathered together at David and Gwen’s house for Christmases. Family mattered most of all to David, and he brought love, integrity, and humor to every family gathering.
He was predeceased by his older brother, Curt, a first lieutenant in the United States Army Infantry, who died in combat in Vietnam in 1968, by his mother, Bucie, in 1986, by his father, Werner, in 2015, and by his sister, Peggie Torelli (Joe), in 2018.
David is survived by his wife Gwen, and their family: Ellie, Hannah, Tim, Francis, Sophie, Max, and River. He also is survived by his siblings Steve (Kathleen), Matt (Beth), Alice Barger (Gene), and Richard (Claudia), and by his and Gwen’s many nieces and nephews, and their partners and children.
David’s family sends heartfelt thanks for the superb care he received from the doctors, nurses, and medical staff at Christiana Hospital, especially Dr. Scott Hall, and at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, especially Dr. Ximena Jordan Bruno and Dr. Ryan McAuley. Thanks also for support from Bayada Home Health Care and Delaware Hospice.
A memorial service will be held at Lower Brandywine Presbyterian Church, 101 Old Kennett Road, Greenville, DE at 11 AM on Friday, February 2, 2024 followed by a 12 PM reception at Wilmington Country Club, 4825 Kennett Pike, Greenville, DE. In lieu of flowers, the family requests contributions to The Southern Poverty Law Center, 400 Washington Avenue, Montgomery, AL 36104, https://www.splcenter.org/, Delaware Nature Society, P.O. Box 700, Hockessin, DE 19707, https://www.delawarenaturesociety.org/, or the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, 114 S. Washington St. #103, Easton, MD 21601, https://www.cbf.org/
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