VALLEY LOST 2 OF ITS LEGENDS

The southeast Valley has lost two major figures in recent days with the deaths of Wayne Brown and Art Wagner.

Brown, 76, served Mesa in two stints, first as a Mesa City Council member from 1968 to 1976, when the city was booming, then as mayor from 1996 to 2000, when Mesa had grown into one of the nation’s 100 largest cities.

Today’s mayor, Scott Smith, called Brown a “visionary,” and longtime council member Dennis Kavanaugh praised Brown’s “exemplary” support of the arts and human services.

Brown no doubt will be remembered most for his success in pushing for the internationally acclaimed Mesa Arts Center. His efforts were rewarded in 1998 when Mesa voters passed a qualityof-life measure that included construction of the arts center.

After finishing his term as mayor, Brown and his wife, Kathye, led private fundraising efforts, breaking their goal of $3.5 million by more than $1 million.

His legacy lives on at the Brown Sculpture Courtyard at the arts center.

In Wagner, the community has lost a colorful and endearing mentor to countless young people and fellow educators. Wagner, 43, committed suicide.

Wagner had a sports background, which served him well when he became athletic director at McClintock High School in Tempe and in the same post for the Higley Unified School District.

He played football at Permian High School in Odessa, Texas, at a time when a young writer named H.G. “Buzz” Bissinger began chronicling the school’s football program for what turned out to be an iconic book (in which Wagner is quoted), “Friday Night Lights.”

Wagner started out at McClintock as a security guard and equipment manager. He became a teacher, coach and athletic director.

Wagner got involved with the Arizona Interscholastic Association, teaching leadership-training courses and rising to president of the executive board.

He had a motto, borrowed from Jack Daniels, worth emulating: “Every day we make it, we make it the best we can.”

Recently, while working for the Higley district, he even earned a certificate qualifying him to be a school superintendent.

Wagner and Brown will be missed greatly.

REPUBLIC FILE PHOTO Wayne Brown peers out his office window using a telescope in 1998, during his time as mayor of Mesa. Brown died May 15 at age 76 after battling a lengthy illness.

Art Wagner, 43, was a teacher, coach and athletic director.

Wayne Brown, 76, served as mayor of Mesa from 1996 to 2000.