Roland Peter Brown

Roland Peter Brown was born in Hebei, Republic of China, on 5 June 1926,[1][2] where his father, a Mennonite religious leader and physician, was based.[3] Brown was the youngest of five siblings; his two brothers and two sisters all died young.[3][4] When his parents, Henry and Maria Brown, were taken as prisoners of war in 1941, in the midst of the Second Sino-Japanese War, Brown was sent to North Newton, Kansas, to live with relatives.[1][2] Brown enrolled at Bethel College,[1][2] and earned his medical qualifications in 1952, graduating from the University of Chicago School of Medicine.[5] He settled in Hualien City, Taiwan, in 1953, and became a founding member of the first Mountain Tour Medical Team, which sought to reach patients in remote areas of Taiwan.[3] In 1954, Brown established the Mennonite Christian Hospital in Hualien.[3][6] The hospital began with 35 beds and charged indigenous and disadvantaged people NT$1 per visit during the first eight years of its operation.[7][8] While Brown worked at the Mennonite Christian Hospital, he was never paid a salary.[8] He also inaugurated several medical and social initiatives, among them milk stations for students, and funding for the care of premature infants, people with leukemia, and people who relied on dialysis.[8] By 1968, a volunteer at the Mennonite Christian Hospital, Peter Huang, diagnosed Brown with rheumatism.[9] Brown retired from his administrative position at Mennonite Christian Hospital in 1990,[9] but continued the practice of medicine in Taiwan until 1994.[3]

Brown married his wife, Sophie Schmidt, in 1948. She was one of three cofounders of the Hualien Christian School.[10][11]

In 1991, the Taiwanese American Foundation honored Brown with its Social Service and Science Award.[9] In a subsequent speech, Brown observed, "Doctors in Taiwan often feel America is closer than Hualien."[6] This statement drew attention to the shortage of medical personnel in rural Taiwan.[3] Peter Huang was inspired to return to Taiwan and lead the Mennonite Christian Hospital.[9] In 1995,[12] President of the Republic of China Lee Teng-hui bestowed upon Brown the Order of Brilliant Star with Violet Grand Cordon, and Brown received several other prizes for his work in Taiwan.[1][13]

Brown spent his retirement years in North Newton, Kansas, with his wife Sophie, who died in 2010.[1][2] In 2011, Brown's name was proposed for commemoration on a sculpture to honor expatriates based in Taiwan.[14] The art piece took form as a metal tree by Liu Po-chun, which featured the name of Gian Carlo Michelini, among others.[15][16] In 2017, Roland Brown published the memoir Healing Hands: Four Decades of Relief and Mission in Taiwan.[17] He died in Newton, Kansas, on 16 August 2019, aged 93.[1][2] The rapper Dwagie released a song commemorating Brown's career in Taiwan in April 2021.[18]