Warren Brown, Washington Post auto writer who chronicled his health struggle, dies at 70
I wasn't in his fan club, but I will relay the obit nonetheless.
David Fahrenthold Retweeted:
Warren Brown, The Post's longtime automobile critic who received the gift of a kidney from his fellow reporter Martha Hamilton, has died. Adam Bernstein has the obituary.
Obituaries
Warren Brown, Washington Post auto writer who chronicled his health struggle, dies at 70
By Adam Bernstein July 26 at 11:41 AM [link:adam.bernstein@washpost.com|Email the author]
Warren Brown, a Washington Post reporter and columnist who brought race and class-conscious insights to his coverage of the automotive industry over three decades and who bared his personal health struggles in a book about the donated kidney he received from a colleague, died July 26 at a hospital in Manassas, Va. He was 70. ... The cause was complications related to kidney disease, his family said. Mr. Brown received two kidney transplants, the first from his wife in 1999 and the second from a Post colleague in 2001. Neither transplant lasted, and he had long been on dialysis.
Road & Travel magazine, which honored Mr. Brown in 2009 for career excellence, called him a lively and detailed writer and one of the most respected and influential automotive journalists in the industry.
He described himself as a servant to his readers a representative who looked out for their financial interests while also trying to satisfy car enthusiasts passions for details about fuel efficiency, horsepower and torque. But in writing about one of the largest sectors of the U.S. economy, he also challenged readers who might have preferred that he stick to interiors and exteriors, penning columns that could
veer sharply into politics and race.
Race, he once said, was a factor in his backing of the 2008 government bailout of Detroits auto industry amid recession. They were the companies that gave my people a break, Mr. Brown, who was black, told
C-SPAN in 2010. We would not have a black middle class had we not had General Motors, Ford and Chrysler.
....
Adam Bernstein has spent his career putting the "post" in The Washington Post, first as an obituary writer and then as editor. The American Society of Newspaper Editors recognized Bernsteins ability to exhume the small details and anecdotes that get at the essence of the person. He joined The Post in 1999. Follow
https://twitter.com/bernsteinobits