Virginia Mae Brown

Diagnoses

Vocation

American civil servant, she was the frst woman to head an independent federal agency, in this case the Federal Interstate Commerce Commission. She first joined the commission in 1964 at the behest of President Lyndon Johnson. She was the first female member; five years later she became the first female to head a commission. After she earned a law degree in 1947, she landed a position as law clerk in the state attorney general's office. Two years later she was appointed to the West Virginia Judicial Council where she was its first female secretary. By 1952, she was the state's first assistant attorney general. She spent her life in public service, becoming legal counsel to the state governor in 1961. In 1962 she was appointed to the state's Public Service Commission. After her stint in Johnson's administration and additional work, she became chief administrative law judge for the US Department of Health and Human Services. She married and divorced but not before having two daughters. She suffered a fatal heart attack on 15 February 1991 in Charleson, W.Va, age 67. Link to Wikipedia biography