Roger J.E. Brown (1931-1980) studied geography at the University of Toronto and Clark University, receiving a PH.D. from the latter in 1961. Starting in 1953 he worked with the National Research Council of Canada in the Northern Research Group, Soil Mechanics Section, Division of Building Research. As an associate research officer, he studied the distribution of permafrost and the physical factors affecting this distribution. He was research advisor to the permafrost subcommittee of the associate committee on geotechnical research and a member of the associate committee on quaternary research, both of the NRC, and a fellow of the Arctic Institute of North America. He visited many parts of Northern Canada.