Mesa Musings:

A 93-year-old retired Orange Coast College professor is one of this community’s most important pioneers, yet few of us know anything about him.

That’s a shame.

Modest and unassuming, Dr. Giles T. Brown, a 60-year Newport Beach resident, still lunches with friends at his favorite Costa Mesa haunt, Mimi’s Restaurant, and occasionally visits OCC’s campus to speak with faculty, staff and students.

He’s one of two surviving charter faculty members, and OCC acknowledged his extraordinary contributions two years ago when it named its 300-seat lecture hall the Giles T. Brown Forum.

“Giles is one of the last linkages to the early history of this college, and I treasure the times I’ve had with him over the years,” said Foundation Director Doug Bennett. “He epitomizes the spirit of this place.”

Giles earned his B.A. in history at San Diego State University, and was awarded an M.A. from UC Berkeley. He completed a PhD at Claremont Graduate School and also studied at the University of Edinburgh.

In the summer of 1948, Giles, just 32, was hired by founding OCC President Dr. Basil H. Peterson. In addition to teaching history, he also served as chairman of the college’s social sciences division.

“I’d just received my PhD, and I immediately accepted Dr. Peterson’s offer,” he recalled with a smile.

“I quickly became enthralled with Peterson’s dedication and his vision for what the college would become. I’m proud of the fact that I played a role in establishing one of the finest community colleges in the nation.”

Shortly after accepting his OCC appointment, Giles received a tantalizing offer from Tulane University in New Orleans. He honored his commitment, however. Additional four-year offers came his way in the months and years ahead.

“[Giles] was to prove an outstanding teacher, organizer and a particularly deft dealer in public relations,” wrote fellow charter faculty member, Elmo Shaver, in 1965. “When he began his series of public affairs forums it became one of the most popular offerings of its type in the [nation].”

Shaver was referring to Giles’ “Behind the Headlines” series that ran on campus for 43 years — and featured more than 1,300 individual presentations! Giles headed the series until he was 75. His final installment occurred on May 28, 1991.

During the 43-year series, Giles visited 132 countries and interviewed dozens of world leaders. He brought an “eye-witness” perspective to almost every major topic of discussion.

The series met Tuesday evenings throughout the academic year. Three hundred attendees arrived weekly for dinner in the Student Center and then attended Brown’s presentations. Class members — many of them retired — enjoyed discussing and analyzing world events.

“It was a hoary project from the outset,” Giles quipped. “The audience was a major reason for the series’ success. The goal was to stimulate thinking about issues of the day, but that goal was never completely realized. The tolerance of the audience in accepting my limitations was noteworthy and greatly appreciated. I learned more than anyone else.”

I told you he was modest.

The son of a Baptist minister, Giles met and married his lovely wife, Beth Cosner Brown, while an OCC professor. Both were members of the original faculty. They fell in love and were married in 1951 in the campus chapel. Ballroom aficionados, they cut a dazzling swath during Friday night campus dances.

Beth and Giles’ life together was a love story that lasted more than 40 years. She was his constant companion, and they remained devoted to one another until her death in 1992. Beth served as OCC’s librarian from 1948 to ’52 and, following her passing, Giles donated more than a quarter-million dollars in her memory to the college and its library.

Giles left OCC in the fall of 1960 to chair the History Department at Cal State Fullerton. He later served as Fullerton’s dean of graduate studies and associate vice president of academic programs. When he left OCC, more than 200 people signed a petition urging him to retain custody of “Behind the Headlines.”

“I agreed to do it for one more year,” he says. “I didn’t realize that that year would stretch into more than three decades.”

Giles played a substantial role in the design of OCC’s Forum, the first large lecture hall on campus. When it opened in the spring of 1960, students good-naturedly dubbed it the “Brown Derby.” The prank was an obvious reference to the Forum’s curved facade, which students likened to the famous Hollywood eatery. It also acknowledged Brown’s considerable influence in the building’s design.

The Giles T. Brown Forum. It has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?

JIM CARNETT lives in Costa Mesa. His column runs Wednesdays.