Pastor John B. Brown, the executive director who ushered NOAH into the affordable housing business, was posthumously awarded the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Service Award during a Jan. 31 breakfast honoring Dr. King.

Brown, who died on June 3, was well known for his efforts through more than a decade to rehabilitate and develop low-income housing in the Glades. He and Freddie Stebbins Jefferson, a retired school teacher and Palm Beach Post columnist were both honored posthumously by the Martin Luther King, Jr. Coordinating Committee based in West Palm Beach.

Brown was born Aug. 28, 1947 in Albany, New York and his family moved to Belle Glade when he was still a child. He grew up in Belle Glade walking through the tall grasses to Lake Shore Elementary School and working in the fields during the summers. He graduated from local public schools and later attended Florida A&M University in Tallahassee and graduated from Miles College in Birmingham, AL.

He was the founder, pastor and teacher of In Time Church of God In Christ in West Palm Beach where he served until his passing. He was most recently employed as head of The Business Loan Fund of the Palm Beaches, Inc. He was a member and active participant in social and civic organizations, including Omega Psi Phi Fraternity.

Brown said he saw his role as executive director of NOAH Development Corp. as a sort of second ministry. His first calling was always the church. "That's where I get all my strength," he once said of church. "After working at NOAH and having financing fall through, if it was not for my strength from God, I would be walking away and saying it can't be done," Brown said. "With men, all things are impossible.With God, all things are possible."

Brown came to NOAH in 1985 from the Palm Beach County Community Development Office, which had awarded NOAH a $57,000 startup grant. His decision to leave a comfortable county job was hard, he said, but the first six months at NOAH were harder. Still, he stuck with it.

"NOAH had a great vision, and I wanted to be a part of that vision," he said in a 1992 interview. He became so closely associated with that vision to provide affordable housing in the Glades that he was once referred to as "Mr. HUD!"