Brewster Castberg Denny (1924 - June 22, 2013) was an American academic from

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

, known for his long association with the University of Washington.

Early life and education

The great-great-grandson of Seattle founder

Arthur A. Denny Arthur Armstrong Denny (June 20, 1822 – January 9, 1899) was an American politician and businessman who is regarded as one of the founders of Seattle, Washington., Special Collections, Washington State Historical Society (WSHS). Accessed online ...

, Brewster Denny graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1942 and the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

in 1945, before joining the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

. In the Navy, he was posted to

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Reci ...

, serving as an intelligence analyst in a unit preparing for the land invasion of

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. Denny left naval service at the end of the war and went on to earn a master's degree from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, and Ph.D. from

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university in Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, with additional facilities in Boston and Grafton, as well as Talloires, France. Tufts also has several Doctor of Physical Therapy p ...

Career

From 1952 to 1960, Denny was an intelligence analyst in the

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and superv ...

, and, in 1960 worked as a national security adviser on the presidential transition team of

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

. He then served a year as a staff member with the

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

Subcommittee on National Policy Machinery and, in 1962, became the first director of the Graduate School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington, a post he held until 1980. In 1992 Denny was named dean emeritus, but continued teaching courses in

American foreign policy The officially stated goals of the foreign policy of the United States of America, including all the bureaus and offices in the United States Department of State, as mentioned in the ''Foreign Policy Agenda'' of the Department of State, are ...

Varsity Bell

From 1961 until his death in 2013, Brewster Denny was responsible for the annual ringing of the

Varsity Bell The Varsity Bell (also called the Denny Bell) is a large bell that, as of 2016, is installed in the cupola of Denny Hall at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. The bell was cast in Troy, New York in 1861 and purchased by the Terr ...

, a , 1861 bell installed at Denny Hall on the University of Washington campus, which is rung once per year, on

Homecoming Homecoming is the tradition of welcoming back alumni or other former members of an organization to celebrate the organization's existence. It is a tradition in many high schools, colleges, and churches in the United States and Canada. United St ...

, to ceremonially summon the university's alumni to campus.

Personal life

Denny married Patrica Virginia Sollitt in 1950 and, with her, had a daughter. Denny served as a trustee of

the Century Foundation The Century Foundation (established first as The Cooperative League and then the Twentieth Century Fund) is a progressive think tank headquartered in New York City with an office in Washington, D.C. It was founded as a nonprofit public policy r ...

, a member of the board of directors of the Seattle Historical Society, and as a vice-president of the Seattle Opera Association.

Bibliography

* ''Seeing American Foreign Policy Whole'' (1985)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Denny, Brewster 1924 births 2013 deaths Educators from Seattle University of Washington alumni University of Washington faculty Harvard University alumni Tufts University alumni