Archives West Finding Aid

University of Washington professor of American foreign policy and administrator.

Born Brewster Castberg Denny in Seattle in 1924, the great-grandson of Arthur A. and Mary Denny who were founders of Seattle and the University of Washington. Denny graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1942 and from the University of Washington in 1945. He received a master's degree in 1948 and a doctorate in 1959 from Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Medford, Massachusetts. Patrica Virginia Sollitt of Elkhart Ind. became his wife in June, 1950. Maria Denny was their only child. Brewster Denny joined the University of Washington faculty in 1961 with dual research interests focused on both American foreign and defense policy and science and public policy. In 1962, he founded and was appointed the first dean of the Graduate School of Public Affairs; a position he served in until 1980. From then until his appointment to Emeritus status in 1993, he taught courses in American foreign policy. During his career, Denny also held several other appointments both within and outside of the university, including: trustee of the Twentieth Century Fund, 1974-; chairman of the Marine Affairs Board (now College of Ocean and Fisheries), 1972-1979; and United States Representative to the General Assembly of the United Nations, 1968. Brewster Denny died of natural causes at his seatle home on June 22, 2013.