Ray B Browne, 87, of Bowling Green, Ohio passed away Thursday October 22, 2009, in Bowling Green, Ohio.

Ray was always one to question convention and authority. As a former professor of English and Literature,
he broke academic conventions in the 1960’s and 1970’s to pioneer the study of popular culture, the
study of everyday cultural life. In the process, he helped revolutionize the subject matter that
scholars in English, American Studies, Sociology, Radio/Television/Film, and other disciplines view as
acceptable and helped drive the academic study of what most people spend most of their free time
pursuing.
Born on January 15, 1922 in Millport, Alabama to Garfield & Annie (Trull) Browne. He married
Alice “Pat” (Matthews) on August 25, 1965 and she survives of Bowling Green. Also surviving are sons,
Glenn & Kevin Browne, daughter, Alicia Browne and three grandchildren.
He fought in World War II in an arullery unit in the European Theater, and the studied in England at the
Universities of Birmingham and Nottingham for a year after the war ended. From there, he returned to the
U.S. and earned a masters degree in Victorian Literature from Columbia University. He spent two years
teaching at the University of Nebraska in the late 1940’s before attending the University of California
at Los Angeles, earning a Ph.D. in English and Folklore in 1956.
Mr. Browne taught at the University of Maryland from 1956-1960, and at Purdue University from 1960-1967.
A prodigious scholar, he published dozens of articles and numerous books in his early career.
In 1967, Ray moved to Bowling Green State University, in Bowling Green, Ohio with the express purpose of
starting the academic study of popular culture. He was fortunate to have the support of both the dean of
his college and the University President at the time. At that point, Mr. Browne’s career and the popular
culture movement took off. He founded the Journal of Popular Culture in 1967 and the Center for the
Study of Popular Culture in 1968. These were the first entities of their kind to focus on the study of
everyday culture.
From the beginning, Mr. Browne cast his net widely. A perusal of a recent program from the Popular
Culture association annual conference includes such subjects as comic books, fashion studies, Stephen
King, mystery and detective fiction, children’s literature, westerns, rock music, internet culture,
sports culture, vampires, world fairs and expositions, food and popular culture, the Civil War, digital
culture, Arthurian legends, travel culture, slapstick comedy, romance fiction, motorcycle culture,
medical humanities, popular architecture and design, and hundreds of other subjects covering aspects of
everyday life. Quite simply, Mr. Browne viewed popular culture as what most people spend most of their
life doing.
He founded the Popular Culture Library at BGSU in 1970. The Library now holds 190,000 books and hundreds
of thousands of other materials related to the study of popular culture. The repository is perhaps the
leading source for popular culture artifacts in the nation. In 1970 he founded the Popular Culture
Association (PCA) to organize and promote the study of popular culture both in the U.S. and
internationally. The annual national convention, held since 1971, regularly draws more than 2000
participants. Browne later founded a sister organization to the PCA, the American Culture Association,
to focus solely on American popular culture.
His focus on everyday culture earned him many honors and high visibility in the media. He appeared
several times on the CBS Evening News, as well as on the Phil Donahue show, BBC News, and other
television programs. He was the subject of a USA Today profile (December 22, 1986), and articles about
him appeared in People magazine (July 11, 1977), and Rolling Stones (October 1988). He was quoted
hundreds of times in newspapers, including The New York times, The Wall street Journals, USA Today, The
Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Star Tribune, The Toledo Blade, and many others.
He was named a Distinguished University Professor at BGSU, the university’s highest honor for
professors, in 1977. He worked tirelessly writing books and promoting popular culture studies until just
two months before his death.
His lasting impact on academia is of major significance. While at BGSU, he wrote, edited, or co-edited
more than 50 book, dozens of articles, a compendium Guide to United States Popular Culture, and hundreds
of book reviews. Most universities in The U.S. and many abroad, now teach course in popular culture
(under various names) in departments of English, Sociology, and History. American Studies, Anthropology,
and others. Making these courses acceptable to university faculty and administrators, to study of
culture of everyday life, is his legacy. One of the most flattering lines about him, which describes his
life and his career perfectly, is from colleague R. Serge Denisoff in a book dedicated many years ago;
“To Ray B. Browne, a gentle revolutionary in the ivory tower.”
Visitation will be held on Tuesday, (October 27, 2009) from 6:00 to 8:00 pm at the Holman Funeral Home
(334-774-5348) Ozark, Alabama. A Graveside Service will be held Wednesday (October 28, 2009) at 11:00 am
at the Woodlawn Memory Gardens in Ozark, Alabama.
Local arrangements are being handled by DUNN FUNERAL HOME 408 W. Wooster St. (located in the Historical
District in Bowling Green).
On-line condolences may be sent to the family by visiting www.dunnfuneralhome.com