Obituary: Maurice ‘Mort’ Brown: Mining devotee dies at 95

Behind a large wooden desk littered with stock tables and back issues of The Northern Miner sits publisher Mort Brown, shuffling stacks of papers and organizing his office while a new editor explains her crisis to him, certain she’s invoked some tragic end to the publication in her care.

When the young editor has presented her case and exhausted her courses of action, an animated Brown redirects his attention from his menial tasks and says: “Well, what are you going to do?”

And that, in essence, was Brown — an unwavering faith in his writers and the decisions they made.

Maurice “Mort” Brown, editor, publisher and Mining Hall of Fame founder and member, passed away June 24 at Freeport Hospital in Kitchener, Ont. He was 95.

Born in Port Arthur, Ont., (now Thunder Bay) steps away from the Little Long Lac gold discovery in neighbouring Geraldton, Brown had mining in his blood from the start.

He graduated from the University of Toronto with a B. Sc. in mining engineering. Thus began his interest in The Northern Miner.

“Enthralled with the excitement of the Little Long Lac gold discovery that created the boom town of Geraldton, literally at the back door of my home town, Port Arthur, I used to go over to the nearby library at Queen’s Park and read The Northern Miner every Thursday during my undergraduate years, which gave me a rather good and broad picture of the mining industry in this country,” wrote Brown in a book about the newspaper’s first 75 years.

Brown’s interest in The Northern Miner, rivalled only by his enthusiasm for mining in general, peaked in his final year of university when, as president of the school’s mining and metallurgical society, he invited a writer from the Miner to speak to students.

After graduation, Brown decided he was going to work for the paper and kept in contact with the company’s then vice-president, Norman Pearce, for seven years, patiently waiting for an opening to come up.

Then one day, while working as an instructor at the Lakehead Technical Institute (which would later become Lakehead University, partially due to funds Brown helped raise), in Thunder Bay, Brown got “the call.” There was an opening at the Miner and Brown was the most eligible candidate.

A brush with death from a lung infection caused by bat dung in a Costa Rican mine, week-long, 10,000-mile trips back and forth across the high Arctic in a private plane, and 43 discovery filled years later, Brown had risen from his role as a field engineer reporter to publisher emeritus — never losing his boyish enthusiasm and remarkable energy.

His most notable role at the Miner was as editor from 1977 to 1985. Brown retired as publisher emeritus in 1992.

“He was a firm believer in letting his people run the show,” says Cindy Gardiner, who worked with Mort during her time as editor of the Canadian Mines Handbook.

“Mort was a natural-born storyteller always willing to laugh at himself at the end of it.”

Gardiner also points out that Brown was well known in the mining industry.

“If there was some in the industry he didn’t know, I don’t know who it would be,” Gardiner says.

Brian Warriner, senior advertising sales representative at The Northern Miner, worked with Brown for 22 years.

“I never heard him say a bad word about anybody,” Warriner says. “He always had time to talk.”

As a byproduct of Brown’s passion for the mining industry, he played an integral role in the establishment of the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame in 1988. He was later inducted as a member in 1993.

He was also honoured with several other industry awards, including induction as a lifetime member of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum and the Distinguished Service Award from the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada, which he received in 1988.

Although Brown’s passing closes another door to the history of The Northern Miner, his commitment to and enthusiasm towards the publishing and mining industry has left its mark.

Brown shared 59 years with his wife Margaret, who passed away in 1998.

He is survived by his son Russ, daughter Sandra (Puley), son-in-law Ron, grandchildren Geoffrey, Gregory and Leslie and spouses Alison, Kim and Craig and great-grandchildren Lauren, Aidan, Ella and Chloe.

A gathering in his memory of family and friends is being planned for July.