The Rev. Russell E. Brown, 86

Before a military junta took over what is now Myanmar, the Rev. Russell E. Brown and his wife, Becky, spent nine years as Baptist missionaries there.

When they arrived in Burma in 1951, their church served congregations from five ethnic backgrounds: Burmese, Chinese, English, Indian, and the native Karen people.

Mr. Brown was ecumenical before it became common.

He studied Buddhism there, his daughter Carol Ward said, "because of the influence that it had on those people as well as on Christians."

He went so far that, while on home furlough in 1956, he studied Buddhism at Harvard University, she said.

On April 28, Mr. Brown, 86, died of Alzheimer's disease at Shannondell at Valley Forge, a retirement community.

He became an executive with the Valley Forge headquarters of American Baptist Churches USA and, when he retired in 1988, was director of American Baptist International Ministries.

Born in Dorchester, Mass., Mr. Brown earned a bachelor's degree in English from Colby College in 1944, a bachelor's of divinity degree in 1947 from Andover Newton Theological School, and a master's degree in sacred theology there in 1951.

He was ordained at his home church in Dorchester in 1947.

After working with Baptist Youth Fellowship groups in Wyoming and Minnesota, Mr. Brown was tapped for overseas work in 1950 by the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society, now the American Baptist International Ministries.

Besides helping to rebuild a Burmese church that had been heavily damaged during World War II, Mr. Brown helped establish a medical clinic, a literacy program, and a Sunday school there, his daughter said.

In 1960, he returned to the New York City headquarters of the denomination before it moved to Valley Forge in 1962, becoming its area director for East Asia until 1973 and again from 1979 to 1983. From 1973 to 1979 he was the denomination's secretary for planning.

Colby College awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1968, his daughter said, and Central Philippine University, founded by American Baptists in 1905, similarly honored him in 1969.

A member of Calvary Baptist Church in Norristown for the last 45 years, Mr. Brown wrote hymns and volunteered for Sunday school and outreach programs.

Besides his wife and his daughter, Mr. Brown is survived by a son, Larry; daughters Deborah McWee and Susan Trencher; a brother; a sister; seven grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.

A life celebration will take place at 2 p.m. June 6 at Calvary Baptist Church, 801 W. Marshall St., Norristown.