Jesse Brown was the United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs, appointed in 1993 by Bill Clinton.

Brown was born on March 27 1944 in Detroit, Michigan, but grew up in Chicago, Illinois.

He attended Catholic University in Washington D.C. and Roosevelt College in Chicago, and graduated from Chicago City College .

He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corp in 1963, and served as a marine in the Viet Nam War, where he was seriously injured in 1965 near Danang. After leaving the Marines, he joined the Disabled American Veterans , a service and advocacy organization. Brown was its first African American director and served from 1989 until 1993.

As the Secretary of Veterans Affairs in the Clinton administration, Brown expanded the services offered to female veterans, homeless veterans and veterans who were ill due to chemical exposures in VietNam or in the Gulf War.

Mr. Brown died on August 15, 2002 in Warrenton, Virginia.