Lorain County Community College announces the availability of the Bill Brown Memorial Scholarship Fund in Law Enforcement. The scholarship will be awarded to a needing and deserving student attending Lorain County Community College (LCCC). This scholarship seeks to recognize students who are enrolled in the Police Academy at LCCC and may be used for expenses associated with successfully completing the Police Academy Program. The recipient must demonstrate unmet financial need after grants and other awards.
Applicant and Recipient Criteria:
- Must be in the LCCC Police Academy and be a Criminal Justice major
- Preferably a Lorain County Resident;
- Pursuing a Career in Law Enforcement;
- Demonstrate Unmet Financial Need;
- Be Accepted into the Police Academy at Lorain County Community College.
About Officer William (Bill) Brown
William Dean Brown, better known as Bill by his friends and family, was born January 12, 1963 to the proud parents, Bill and Mary Ann (Tomko) Brown in Lorain, Ohio. Bill was one of four children. He had two older sisters, Cynthia (Cindy) Brown Laeng, a teacher in North Olmsted, who is married to Jeffrey Laeng, a Westlake police officer since 1978. They have three sons, two of whom are police officers in Berea and Columbus and a son in college studying civil engineering. His other sister is Deborah (Debbie) Brown Gresh, a registered nurse in the emergency room of Community Health Partners since 1978. She is married to John Gresh, a retired mathematics and computer programming teacher in the Lorain County City School system for thirty years and is now continuing to teach computer science at Lorain County Community College, where he has also taught for the past twenty-three years. They have two children in college studying pre-med and electro-mechanical engineering. Bill also had a younger brother, Robert (Bob) Brown, who is currently a sergeant on the Lorain Police Department since 1993.
Bill Brown was born and raised in Lorain, Ohio. He attended Hawthorne Boone Elementary School and graduated in the top of his class of 1981 from Admiral King High School. While at Admiral King High School, he was active in sports having played football, baseball and was also a member of the ski team. He excelled academically, was a member of the Academic Challenge Team, President of Student Council and of the National Honor Society.
After graduation, Bill decided to become a registered nurse graduating from Lorain County Community College with his Associates Degree in Nursing. He worked for ten years as a registered nurse at the former Saint Joseph’s Hospital being the charge nurse in the emergency room. He was an excellent nurse, but in 1993, he decided to change career paths to serve people in other ways. It was then that he became a policeman for the Lorain Police Department.
Bill was very involved in the police department. He served as a training officer, as an honor guard, marched in parades, represented the department at out-of-town events, and was the secretary/treasurer for the Fraternal Order of Police Union, Local #3. He did funeral escorts and security of Saint Nicholas Byzantine’s bingo events and was involved in Operation Open Heart.
Bill loved his job and he was well respected by his co-workers and the community. He valued family and friends and especially valued education.
Unfortunately, his zest for life ended abruptly; August 26, 2003, at the young age of forty during a boating accident where he drowned in Lake Erie off the shores of Beaver Creek Yacht Club.
Because Bill valued education as much as he did, his family and friends want the memory of Bill to continue on forever in the form of an educational scholarship to help an aspiring young man or woman, who also desires to give back to their community by becoming a police officer through the Lorain County Community College Police Academy or through studies in the Criminal Justice program.
Bill is survived by his mother, Mary Ann Tomko Brown, sisters; Cindy Laeng, Debbie Gresh, brother; Bob Brown, a daughter; Brittany Nicole Brown and by countless extended family and friends.