view . spring 2008
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Friends and colleagues are contributing to
the Dr. Lee Brown Fund, established to help
finance construction of the new home of the
Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry –
Windsor Campus, which opens in September.
Lee Brown had been a family doctor in
Windsor for more than five decades. He was
committed to practising medicine in the
southernmost region of Ontario, where
family doctors are unusually scarce. When
the Windsor program begins in 2008,
however, enrollment of undergraduate
medical students at the Schulich School will
be 24 per year, with 96 students graduating
in each four-year cycle. UWindsor administrators and community leaders say they expect a
significant proportion of graduates will set up practices in the region.
So esteemed was Dr. Brown that as word of his death spread, his family was inundated
with accolades from patients, colleagues and friends.
“I was a little flabbergasted that so many people have been making donations in his
memory to so many causes,” says his widow Louise. “I have received some wonderful notes
from so many patients whom I never knew.”
Many friends were aware of Dr. Brown’s strong commitment to medical education.
“Lee was thrilled about the idea of educating more doctors right here in Windsor and he
would be gratified to know that people are making contributions to medical education in his
memory,” says Louise.
“My father would also be honoured to learn that future doctors will be made aware of the
dedication to medicine that he demonstrated throughout his career,” said his son, Michael.
He liked the practice of medicine, it was important to him, it was important to the people he
served; he took an oath and the oath was for a lifetime.”
He added: “My father was the country doctor who lived in the city. In the 1960s and
’70s, he made a lot of house calls, and he still made some house calls right up to the end; he
was committed to doing the right thing every day for everybody.”
“Canadian universities have a great opportunity to produce doctors like those of my
father’s generation. Frankly, it is my opinion that Canadian medical schools produce some of
the finest physicians per capita in the world.”
“I believe Lee was one of the last doctors to go to work every day in a shirt and tie,” said
Louise, adding: “He was the kind of doctor who was there when people were born through to
when their lives ended – the doctors of the future should know that this is the tradition that
they are entering when they take their oath.”
Remembering
Dr. Lee Brown
Fundraising and construction of the
$24-million Medical Education Building
are the full responsibility of the University
of Windsor. In the new facility, which opens
this fall, students will benefit from an
established and exceptional program that
is patient-centred and inter-professional
across health science disciplines at
UWindsor and medicine disciplines at the
Schulich School. The building was
designed to enable enrollment to double to
48 students a year, providing a total of
192 students in each four-year cycle.
The Office of University Advancement
has set up a trust fund for contributions in
honour of Dr. Brown. All donations are tax
deductible and will be dedicated to the
new Medical Education Building. Please
make cheques payable to the University of
Windsor, indicating that the gift is to
honour Dr. Lee Brown.
“Being a Physician requires ability.
Being a good Physician requires availability.
However, being truly great in all things requires affability.”
- Dr. Lee Brown MD
In Practice 1956-2007
February 28, 2008
July 3, 2007
