Robert E. Brower

Robert E. Brower, Sr., who died in Winston-Salem on December 22, 2014 after a long battle with Alzheimer’s, returned to Greensboro after World War II to complete his undergraduate education at North Carolina A and T. He then earned an MBA from Atlanta University and on June 14, 1947 he married Marian Friende of Kernersville.

The Browers moved to Winston-Salem in 1950, where Robert opened a neighborhood grocery store, Midget’s Supermarket, that proved so successful that he opened a second one. But urban renewal in Winston-Salem forced the closing of these stores and other black-owned businesses for the construction of interstate exchanges.Robert then taught at local middle and high schools before becoming principal at A.H. Anderson High School and then the first black principal of a predominantly white high school in the county, West Forsyth High. He was also principal at Walkertown Middle School.

He and Marian had three children: Lynda C. Brower-Isabel; Robert E. Brower, Jr., and Keith B. Brower. They also have four grandchildren and a great-grandson.

After services at St. Paul United Methodist Church, Robert was interred at Evergreen Cemetery in Winston Salem.