Denver— Roger Brown, the publisher and editorial director of CED magazine, lost a months-long battle against cancer Wednesday night, dying at his home in Colorado. He was 46.
A native of Grayling, Mich., Brown grew up in Toledo, Ohio, and graduated with a journalism degree from Ohio University. He began his reporting career at Houston Community Newspapers in 1981.
A chance to cover the growing cable-TV industry brought him to what later became Reed Business Information in Denver in 1986.
During his 20-year career, he traveled across the country covering the telecommunications revolution, especially the development of broadband services. (Please see Leslie Ellis’s column, page 33.)
Brown oversaw the company’s development of CED, a monthly magazine for broadband professionals that, like Multichannel News, is owned by Reed Business Information. He expanded the magazine into daily and weekly online newsletters, as well as Webcasts and seminars to meet the industry’s growth.
In 1983, Brown married Catherine “Birdy” Caylor of Springfield, Ohio. They have four children: Anthony James, 17; Cayleigh Renee, 15; Nicholas Paul, 12; and Alexandra Paige, 7.
Brown is also survived by three brothers: Randy Brown, of St. Petersburg, Fla.; Rick Brown, of Arvada, Colo., and Ron Brown, of Gresham, Ore.
“Roger Brown was a remarkable industry contributor, and an even more remarkable person,” said Rouzbeh Yassini, a pioneering cable-modem developer, chairman of YAS Corp. and co-author, with Brown, of the book Planet Broadband. “Perhaps most memorably of all, Roger was the adoring father of four children who represented the center of his life. With this in mind, several of Roger’s peers and friends have organized a fundraising effort devoted to the one goal Roger has singularly pursued, and that is a promising future for his children.”
Those wishing to contribute to the fund can send checks to the Roger Brown Family Account, c/o First American State Bank, 8390 E. Crescent Parkway, Suite 100, Greenwood Village, Colo., 80111.
“Roger was without question the most diligent, uncomplicated editorial person I had the pleasure of engaging with during [my] early days [at CED] and thereafter,” said Bill McGorry, executive VP at Reed Business Information. “We are all truly diminished by his loss,” McGorry added.
