The Tri State Chapter Annual Bishop George D. Browne program honor individuals and organizations in our community who demonstrates leadership, professionalism, entrepreneurship and other characteristics that serves as example for all to emulate.
The awards are designed to advance community service, charitable contributions and encourage future generations of leaders.
Archbishop Browne, a resident of Monrovia, Liberia, died in a hospital in Milwaukee, where he had gone to visit relatives and for medical care.
The cleric, who survived death threats in his efforts to bring peace and democracy to Liberia, served on a commission that proposed democratic changes in Liberia’s Constitution, but they were opposed by the authoritarian President, Samuel K. Doe. Surrounded by Violence
When Mr. Doe was assassinated in 1990, the Archbishop opened seven churches to help victims of the civil war that broke out. Although many other religious leaders fled, Archbishop Browne tried to negotiate among warring factions.
The Archbishop’s rise was occasioned by violence. After the assassination of his predecessor, he was consecrated as the first native-born Bishop of Liberia, in 1970. In 1982 the bishops of West Africa elected him Archbishop for Liberia, Guinea, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Ghana and Cameroon.
As a boy, he supported his family by selling biscuits for a penny apiece and canoeing upriver for firewood. One grandfather was a high priest in an animist African religion; another was an Episcopal priest.
After graduating from Cuttington College in Liberia, Archbishop Browne received a master’s degree from the Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria; he was ordained in 1963.
Archbishop George D. Browne, the leader of the Episcopal archdiocese embracing six West African nations, died on Feb. 14. He was 59.
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