Edward L. Brown, Sr.
Edward L. Brown Sr., who led the International Longshoremen’s Association in Hampton Roads through the port’s development into one of the nation’s top container ports, died Feb. 5 of complications from cancer. He was 83. Mr. Brown joined ILA Local 1248 in 1956 and later spent 18 years as the local’s president. He was elected to the executive board of the union’s Atlantic Coast District in 1983 and to the ILA’s executive council as an international vice president in 1987. He held both of those positions until his death. ILA President Richard Hughes praised Mr. Brown’s work on contracts and said he was instrumental in establishment of the MILA coastwide medical program for ILA members. “The ILA’s ability to create this great health care plan for thousands of ILA members and their families would never have happened without Ed,” Hughes said. “Ed’s legacy will be measured by all of those members in the ILA family whose lives he helped improve throughout his career.”