Join us on May 7 as we pay tribute to Fred Brown – our brother in journalism, our ethical soul, and a loving husband – at a Celebration of Life at the Denver Press Club.

The gathering is hosted by the Colorado Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition and the Denver Press Club.

Across decades, Fred was a guiding light for journalists in the Centennial State and nationwide. He died April 1 following a stroke at age 85. Read SPJ Colorado Pro’s remembrance here.

Fred spent many years covering government and politics on the staff of The Denver Post, was a longtime political analyst at Denver’s KUSA-9News, and taught journalism ethics at the University of Denver.

Fred served as national SPJ president in 1997-98, and at times was its Rocky Mountain Region 9 director and president of its Colorado chapter. Nicknamed “Ethical Fred,” he was a former chair of SPJ’s national ethics committee, helped rewrite its Code of Ethics for journalists, and wrote and edited SPJ’s ethics book. The national SPJ’s Board of Directors on April 10 approved a resolution permanently renaming its ethics award the Fred Brown SPJ Ethics in Journalism Award.

Fred was a longtime member of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition board and was its secretary at the time of his death. Read CFOIC’s remembrance here.

And he was a former president of the Denver Press Club and in 2003 was enshrined in the Denver Press Club Hall of Fame.

He is survived by his wife, Mary Brown.

Space will be limited, so we ask that you RSVP for the event here: tinyurl.com/FredBrownCelebrationOfLife

DETAILS:

• When: Thursday, May 7, 2026, at 6 p.m.
• Where: The Denver Press Club, 1330 Glenarm Place. Metered parking is on the street, a pay lot is next door, and the free RTD 16th Street shuttle is two blocks away.

LEARN MORE ABOUT FRED:

• “Fred Brown, longtime Denver journalist, left a legacy of respect, kindness and fair play” (remembrance by Kevin Vaughan) – KUSA-9NEWS, April 6, 2026. 
• “Longtime Denver Post political journalist Fred Brown, an ethics and open government advocate, dies at 85” (news obituary by Elliott Wenzler) — Denver Post, April 2, 2026.
• “Fifty years ago, voter approval of the Sunshine Law ushered in a new era of government transparency in Colorado. It also meant no more beer for the state Capitol press corps” (by Jeffrey A. Roberts)— CFOIC, October 6, 2022.
• “Denver’s Fred Brown is an instrumental figure in SPJ’s Code of Ethics” (Q&A interview by Ed Otte) – SPJ Colorado Pro, April 14, 2015.