PLANNED GIVING PROFILE NORMAN BRAND ’61

We are deeply honored when alumni treat Bronx Science like a part of their family by including the school in their estate plans, and Norman Brand ’61 is one such alumnus. Norm was recently kind enough to be a part of our May 1st planned giving webinar, and to speak with Priscilla Xu ’23 about why Bronx Science continues to be such a meaningful institution for him. Norm loved his time with the folk singing group on campus, and he fondly remembers that his favorite high school classes were biology with Dr. Powell and chemistry. One of his favorite Science memories is when the chemistry teacher dropped a softball-size chunk of sodium into a laundry tub with water, causing an explosion that sent Mr. Brand and his classmates hiding behind their desks to avoid getting soaked. His teachers helped him find a mentor at Rockefeller Institute and submit a project on e. Coli to the Westinghouse Science Talent Search. After graduating in 1961, Norm headed to Harpur College (now a part of SUNY Binghamton), where he earned his bachelor’s degree. He had planned to enter the Air Force Commission, but changed course in light of the Vietnam War. Norm instead attended Arizona State University and earned his PHD in

English, with a doctoral dissertation focused on the fugitive slave narrative and books of slaves before the Civil War. He became an assistant English professor at UC Davis and taught their first black literature classes before completing law school there. Norm headed back to New York City in 1975, when the city was going bankrupt, and worked with the emergency financial control board to “right the ship” and develop a five year plan for financial solvency. After teaching for a time at Albany Law School, in 1983 Norm returned to the Bay Area of California and began arbitrating - a career he continues to this day. He has worked as an arbitrator and mediator in almost 4,000 labor, employment, pension, and other cases, and he takes great pride in his work bringing justice and resolution to difficult circumstances.

Norm shares that the best thing that he ever learned at Bronx Science is that “ignorance is curable,” and to not be embarrassed to not know something and ask questions. He credits his professional success, in part, to this important lesson and sees its impact daily. For example, for the last 15 years, he has been a member of the UCSF Cancer Centers’ Institutional Review Board, charged with making ethical decisions with regards to research. Most of his peers are MD-PhDs, but Norm has found that he has been able to be extremely useful by having no qualms asking questions and bringing different perspectives to the discussion table. He also says that thanks to Bronx Science’s co-ed admission policy, he experienced firsthand early on that both men AND women can be very smart (possibly related: his wife is a lawyer from UCLA.)

By making a planned gift to Bronx Science, and supporting the school currently as a member of the Atomic 100 leadership society, Norm wishes to help the school continue to provide an exceptional education to students and give young people the same opportunities that he enjoyed. He says that though the makeup of the school has changed in some ways, much is still the same at Bronx Science: there are an abundance of kids from lower or middle class families, just as he was, who are very bright and able to improve their socioeconomic circumstances thanks to their Bronx Science education. The school - by placing enormous value on intelligence through the entrance exam, encouraging students to ask questions, and providing courses of study not available elsewhere - is truly unique and helps address the opportunity gap in the city. Norm is proud to do his part as an alumnus to help that worthwhile mission.

Alumni like Norm are members of the Creston Avenue Society, which celebrates those who have informed the Alumni Foundation of their intentions to make a legacy gift to Bronx Science. Creston Avenue Society members receive special recognition, communications and invitations. If you are interested in learning more about planned giving options and/or joining the Creston Avenue Society, please contact the Foundation team at foundation@bxscience.edu or 718.817.7800.

NORMAN BRAND ’61