Peter F. Brown (1960-1999)

Interim Consent Order

Second Supplemental Consent Order

Peter F. Brown (1960-1999) was a dentist who died from a heroin overdose. (b. May 29, 1960; Red Bank, Monmouth County, New Jersey - d. May 10, 1999; East 9th Street, Manhattan, New York City, New York)

Parents

• Frederick George Brown (1935-1991)

Education

He went to Fairleigh Dickinson dental school after graduating from Rutgers University.

Alcohol abuse

• January 18, 1990: Interim Consent Order "This matter was opened to the State Board Dentistry upon receipt a Report of Investigation from the Enforcement Bureau, Professions and Occupations Section, which disclosed allegations that Dr. Brown has an addiction to alcohol." He was ordered to attend AA and to have his urine tested randomly.

• November 1, 1990: Supplemental Consent Order "... on or about August 16, 1990, respondent again became intoxicated, and lost contact with the impaired Dentists Program ...'

• November 29, 1990: Second Supplemental Consent Order "This matter was opened to the New Jersey State Board of Dentistry upon receipt of a Report of Investigation from the Enforcement Bureau, Professions and Occupations Bureau, which disclosed allegations that Respondent has an addiction to alcohol, resulting in a Consent Order entered January 13, 1990, which is appended hereto and made a part of this Order. This matter is again opened to the New Jersey State Board of Dentistry upon receipt of information that on about August 1990, Respondent again became intoxicated, and lost contact with the Impaired Dentists Program and his place of treatment for alcoholism."

• June 10, 1993: Amendment to Monitoring Order "Dr. Brown indicated to the Board that his primary purpose for requesting modification of his monitoring order was to terminate the requirement that his employment as a dentist be only under the direct supervision of another licensed dentist. Dr. Brown further advised the Board that he had an opportunity to purchase the practice of a retiring dentist near his home, and he hoped that deletion of the supervision requirement would permit him to take advantage of this opportunity ... Respondent shall not prescribe Schedule II Controlled Dangerous Substances nor shall he possess such substances except pursuant to a bona fide prescription written by a physician or dentist for good medical or dental cause. Respondent shall not be permitted to have nitrous oxide in his office in the event he enters into an independent dental practice. Respondent shall cause any physician or dentist who prescribed medication which is a controlled dangerous substance to provide a written report to the Board together with patient records indicating the need for such medication. Such report shall be provided to the Board no later than seven (7) days subsequent to the prescription in order to avoid any confusion which may be caused by a confirmed positive urine test." He wanted to buy a practice and petitioned that he not have to work under a supervisor. He was granted the emancipation with certain strictures to his access to drugs and he had to continue in AA and agree to random drug testing.

Death

• New York Daily News; March 11, 1999: Cops were investigating whether a lethal batch of heroin is being sold in Alphabet City after a New Jersey dentist and a lower East Side drifter died of apparent overdoses yesterday hours apart on the same Manhattan block. ... A few hours later, just before 6:30 a.m., police and paramedics were back on the block, between Avenues C and D. Inside a parked Buick Regal was the body of Dr. Peter Brown, 39, of Summit, N.J., and some empty glassine envelopes. Authorities said they believed he snorted his smack.

• New York Post; May 11, 1999: Lethal Heroin Batch Blamed In 3 Deaths. Matthew Boyd, 26, a squatter, and Peter Brown, 39, a New Jersey dentist, died after snorting the same heroin on the same block of 9th Street in Alphabet City ...

• New York Times; May 12, 1999: 2 More Dead Of Drug Ods. On Monday, Dr. Peter Brown, 39, a dentist from Summit, NJ, was found dead in his car on E. Ninth St. on the lower East Side after apparently snorting heroin.

• New York Times; May 12, 1999: 4 Deaths, 4 Places, One Problem: An Increase in the Use of Heroin. A dentist from New Jersey is found dead in his maroon Oldsmobile on an East Village street. A young drifter dies on the same street in a tenement that he shared with squatters. A pressman dies at the TriBeCa printing company where he worked. And a 35-year-old man is found dead in his room at a Y.M.C.A. in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. ... That was painfully evident yesterday in Summit, N.J., where friends, neighbors and patients were trying to grapple with the news that Dr. Peter Brown, 39, whom they knew as a dentist, a long-distance runner and an avid gardener, had apparently died of a heroin overdose. "If you had a picture of a heroin addict, it just wouldn't be him," said James Ralston, the president of a software company with its office in the same building as Dr. Brown's dental practice, on a genteel stretch of road. ... Dr. Brown was found dead in his car at 6:30 A.M. on Monday on Ninth Street between Avenues C and D. Some empty glassine envelopes were beside his body, the police said. An autopsy conducted yesterday was inconclusive, and pathologists are awaiting the results of toxicology tests before they announce the cause of his death, said Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the office of the Chief Medical Examiner. ... In Summit, friends said that Dr. Brown had struggled with alcohol but that they had never suspected drug use. "I can't get over this," a friend said. "I didn't sleep a wink last night." Outside a church in Summit where Dr. Brown had attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, people shook their heads. "Peter tried his hardest," said Steve, a patient and friend who in keeping with the group's tradition gave only his first name. "It hurt me that he couldn't stay sober, and it's sad that he couldn't pass away sober. But his death will make me more diligent about staying sober."

• New York Daily News; May 23, 1999: Profiles like these parallel the life of Dr. Peter Brown, a 39-year-old dentist from Summit, N.J., found dead May 10 in his car on E. Ninth St. on the lower East Side after apparently snorting smack. He was known on the drug scene as a weekend warrior, drugging amid the drifters like the two found dead on the same block that week. They are believed to be two more victims of a lethal batch of heroin copped in Alphabet City.

• Buffalo News via New York Daily News; May 24, 1999: With Crack Use In Decline, Smack Becomes More Prevalent. Results Are Deadly. The near-death of Kelly Burke is the new life of heroin, and it is not a story ... parallel the life of Dr. Peter Brown, a 39-year-old dentist from Summit, ...

• Village Voice; June 15, 1999: Smack Attack. Heroin Deaths Rattle The East Village. It all started on a Monday about a month ago. Three people, thought to have bought their heroin in the East Village, overdosed in one day. Richard Spadafora, a 42-year-old printer, died on Hudson Street. Matthew Boyd, a 26-year-old who used to hang around in Tompkins Square Park, was pronounced dead at Beth Israel. And Peter Brown, a white dentist from New Jersey, was found dead in his car on East 9th Street. The next day another man overdosed in his room in the Brooklyn YMCA. Less than a week after that, a 23-year-old died on East 9th Street, at the same spot where Boyd overdosed.

Obituary

Asbury Park Press on May 13, 1999: "Dr. Peter Brown, 38, of Summit, formerly of Red Bank, died Monday in New York City. He was a dentist in private practice in Summit. He was a communicant of St. Theresa's Roman Catholic Church, Summit. He was a graduate of Red Bank Catholic High School and of Rutgers and Fairleigh Dickinson universities. He served his residency at Jersey City Medical Center. He was a member of the Jersey Shore Running Club, and the USA Track and Field Running Club. He was also a member of The Journalist Authors Guild, and was associated with a Bagpiper Band. Born in Long Branch, he lived in Red Bank before moving to Summit nine years ago. His father, Frederick, died in 1991, and his brother, Michael, died in 1966. Surviving are his wife, Elenita Ajose Brown; his mother, Jane Dolan, Long Branch; a brother, Andrew; three sisters, Julie Barber, Laura Walls and Jennifer Pillari, all Long Branch; four nephews, Joseph, Michael and Daniel Pillari and Michael Barber; and an aunt, Mary Lou Centrella. Visitation will be from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. today at The John E. Day Funeral Home, 85 Riverside Ave., Red Bank. Mass of Christian Burial will be offered at 10 a.m. to-morrow at St. James Roman Catholic Church, Red Bank. Interment will follow in Mount Olivet Cemetery. Memorial donations to the Arc, 1158 Wayside Road, Tinton Falls, NJ 07724 are preferred."

Burial

He was buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery, Middletown, New Jersey.

Memories about Peter F. Brown

• I knew Pete when he was an undergraduate at Rutgers in New Brunswick, and I was going to graduate school there. He was a friend of my landlord. He was always proud of his Scottish heritage and he was an avid runner. His favorite movies were Personal Best and Chariots of Fire. He had a problem with drinking even in college and he would bring alcohol to his classes in a soda bottle. Once he went to a local sub shop that Rob, the landlord, liked and Pete was complaining about how much he preferred another sub shop the whole time he was waiting in line. The guy who took his order and made the sandwich must have gotten tired of hearing Pete complain, so when Pete got home his sub was made of nothing but lettuce and tomato, with no meat. I later heard that Peter got into trouble and had to go to rehab to keep his dental license when a patient complained that he appeared intoxicated during a visit. (Source: Richard Arthur Norton on March 17, 2009)

• Dr. Peter F. Brown, son of Frederick G. Brown, nephew of Mary Lou (Brown) Cantrella, husband of Ellen Brown. Pete was a dentist who was well loved by his patients. He was a runner who had won many awards. He is now with his father whom he adored and his older brother, Michael, who died when Peter was only five. (Source: Alice C. Gilson (1916-2011) at Findagrave)

• He was obsessed with the Pearl Harbor attack and I think he mentioned that there was someone in his family that was operating the radar facility, or perhaps he knew the name of the person operating the radar, and he was not related. Peter had very strong beliefs that the President was told of the imminent attack but ignored it purposefully so that the US would enter the war. Pete would talk on the subject for hours, especially when intoxicated, it was hard to avoid hearing it for the nth time. It did not matter that he had told the story many times before to the same people in the room. (Source: Richard Arthur Norton on December 5, 2017)

Timeline

• 1960 Birth in Red Bank, New Jersey on May 29, 1960
• 1983 (circa) Graduation from Rutgers University
• 1985 (circa) Graduation from Fairleigh Dickinson dental school
• 1990 Interim Consent Order issued with "Dr. Brown has an addiction to alcohol." on January 18, 1990
• 1990 Supplemental Consent Order issued with "... on about August 1990 [he] again became intoxicated" on November 1, 1990
• 1990 Second Supplemental Consent Order issued after relapse on November 29, 1990
• 1993 Amendment to Monitoring Order on June 10, 1993 allowing him to work in his own practice but with no access to drugs
• 1999 Death in his car while parked in Manhattan in Alphabet City from snorting heroin

External links

• Peter F. Brown (1960-1999) at Wikidata
• Peter F. Brown (1960-1999) at Facebook
• Peter F. Brown (1960-1999) at Findagrave
• New Jersey State Board of Dentistry Disciplinary Actions