Elaine Harriet Brown

Elaine Harriet Brown, 75, passed away on February 22, 2021 after a hard-fought battle with kidney cancer.

The daughter of the late Abraham (“Jack”) and Anna (Schwartz) Pogostin , she was born Elaine Harriett Pogostin in Bronx, New York and spent her childhood in Yonkers and Mt. Vernon, New York. She attended AB Davis High School.

Elaine graduated Wellesley College in Massachusetts in 1967 with a bachelor’s degree in economics. From there, she moved to the Washington D.C. area at age 22 to start her 40-year career as a analyst with the Central Intelligence Agency, focusing on economics in China, Japan, Korea and Indonesia. She worked on the Tokyo Round of the GATT negotiations during the Carter Administration. She was referred to amongst her peers as the “econometric angel” for her ability to reduce complicated economic processes and reams of statistics to their essential elements in mathematical terms. She obtained a master’s degree in economics from the University of Maryland in 1971.

In 1991 and 1992, she took a temporary assignment as a staff economist for the then United States Trade Representative Carla Hill, providing economic analysis on NAFTA and the Uruguay round negotiations. With the establishment of the National Economic Council during the Clinton Administration, she provided direct support to the NEC on whether to renew China’s “most favored nation” status.

After retirement, Elaine volunteered at The Kennedy Center to further her deep love of the arts. She was also active in the Jewish community for both the Har Shalom and Temple Micah congregations.

In 1969, Elaine married Marvin Brown and they were together until Marv’s death in 2014. She is survived by her daughter Leslie (Aaron Parness) Brown, her grandson Bailey Parness, her brother Joseph (Judy Cohn) Pogostin, her sister Alice (Michael) Adams, her niece Lisa, her nephews Doug, Richard, and Marc and their families, a slew of Pogostin and Schwartz cousins, and many dear friends, including “Paul’s List.”

The funeral and burial is at 11am EST on Sunday, February 28, 2021 at the Judean Memorial Gardens in Olney, Maryland. Due to current Covid restrictions on in-person gatherings, the funeral is private. The family welcomes Elaine’s loved ones to participate in a virtual shiva scheduled for Tuesday, March 2, 2021 at 7pm. Log-in details are: https://zoom.us/j/95492738184?pwd=UmV5bUhheXFwQyt2RGVXdnkvMmloQT09
Meeting ID: 954 9273 8184
Passcode: Shiva

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+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
Donations may be made in Elaine’s memory to the following organizations: Capital Caring Hospice, Temple Micah, American Cancer Society, and The Kennedy Center.