Obituary of Leslie Johnston Browne

Leslie Johnston Browne - PENNINGTON, NJ - 65, formerly of San Francisco, CA; Basel,CH; and Morristown, NJ passed away at home surrounded by his family after a 3 year battle with lymphoma on January 20, 2016. Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Les studied organic chemistry at Strathclyde University. After receiving his Ph.D. with distinguished honors from the University of Michigan, he was a National Institutes of Health postdoctoral fellow at Harvard with Nobel laureate, Robert Burns Woodward. Les was a versatile leader in drug discovery with many patents and astute managerial acumen. He was a senior executive in the pharmaceutical industry with Ciba-Geigy in Basel, CH, and Berlex Biosciences in Richmond, CA before he became a pharmaceutical entrepreneur with Iconix Pharmaceuticals and later, Pharmacopeia Drug Discovery. His last role was as the CEO of Senesco Technologies (Sevion Pharmaceuticals) a company developing a treatment for the same blood cancer that ultimately ended his life. Son of the late Archibald Leslie Browne and the late Joan Wilson Johnston, Les is survived by his wife Marsha, of Pennington NJ, and his son, Nolan, (Eriko Watanabe) of Cupertino, CA; son, David (Kathryn Corradini) and two wonderful grandchildren, Elyse and William, of Washington, DC; and son, Andrew of San Francisco, CA. Les was a patriotic Scot and proud American. He was a philanthropist, and sportsman, with a passion for marathoning, rugby, and premier league soccer. He ran the New York City marathon on multiple occasions, proudly finishing in 1982 in under three hours. Les will most be remembered for his undying devotion to his family and his fierce loyalty to his friends. His positive outlook on life and quick wit, won him the admiration of all, in boardrooms and social gatherings alike. He was a kind and honest man who stood for fairness and social justice. A Visitation and Mass will be held to celebrate Les’ life at the Church of Saint Ann, 1253 Lawrenceville Road, Lawrenceville, NJ 08648 Sat. Jan. 30, 2016. The visitation will begin at 11:30am, and Mass will begin at 1pm. More information can be found at: https://browne-family.squarespace.com/#our-story-1 In lieu of flowers, the family respectfully requests your donation to: The Lymphoma Research Foundation www.lymphoma.org/site/pp.asp?c=bkLTKaOQLmK8E&b=6301935 or The Friends of Alouette, International, Inc. http://www.friendsofalouetteintl.org/donation.aspx