OLD SAYBROOK—UPDATED 1/29 with full obituary David G. Brown, artist and farmer, 70, of Old Saybrook, CT died peacefully in his home at the Hay House Farm in Old Saybrook on January 19, 2024. David was born in Englewood Cliffs, NJ, on March 27, 1953 to George and Mary (Wyda) Brown. He graduated from Old Saybrook High School in 1971, 2nd in his class. David started college at Middlebury, where he began to paint portraits and still lifes. He longed to see the world though and took a year off to travel overland across Asia. He visited India, Turkey, Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan, where he saw the Buddhas of Bamiyam, and he trekked through Nepal. This journey would change his life. Upon returning, David attended Dartmouth College, and graduated Summa Cum Laude in 1976 having studied World Geography and Food Problems. He later received a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies from Wesleyan University in 1989.
David returned to Nepal to teach at the Village School in Syrabu from 1976-1978. The residents were refugees from the Tibetan Village of Happiness. He was amazed by how genuinely happy the Tibetans were, despite having so little. During his travels, David took photographs for UNICEF and Save the Children that were later published in a children’s book. When he returned to the U.S., he sought a similarly simple lifestyle, starting a farm in 1986 in Old Saybrook. He moved into a home built from hay bales covered in stucco, which was without plumbing or electricity. There he created his own personal sanctuary, the Hay House Farm, where he melded art and farming into his everyday life. The message of the Hay House was, “this is more than enough”.
From 1987-1991 David taught social studies and art at the Hammonasset School in Madison. One year, he brought his students to Nepal for a month to work at the Tibetan refugee camp. The group brought with them duffel bags full of clothing for distribution. In October, 1991, Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dali Lama was invited to Yale to receive an honorary degree. David was asked to drive the Dali Lama and the Tibetan Cabinet around New Haven. At the end of 1992, David helped resettle 20 Tibetan families in Old Saybrook. From 1992-1997, David worked as the Operations Director for the Tibetan Culture Center of CT. From 1993-1997, he served on the Old Saybrook Board of Education. David built the first Buddhist stupa in Connecticut at the Hay House Farm to serve as a place of meditation for the community. It was dedicated in 2007.
David was a talented painter. His work was displayed at the New Britain Museum of Art in 1999, and at the Discovery Museum in Bridgeport in 2000. In 2004 he was featured at an open house at the Florence Griswold Museum where he created “The Installation”, a life-size still life of the inside of the Hay House with the outside painted in the four seasons. The Installation was accompanied by 365 paintings of sunrises from the past year, and a big grid of portraits of his friends – his everyday heroes. He was the recipient of numerous best in show awards in Guilford, Essex, and at the Yale Art Gallery in New Haven. He displayed his work at several solo exhibitions throughout Connecticut.
“Farmer Brown” became a fixture of the Connecticut shoreline community and was well known for his jam, eggs, produce, honey, paintings, and Lhasa Apso-derived dogs (a breed originating in Tibet). He hosted an annual “daffodil brunch” every spring at The Hay House, when tens of thousands of daffodils bloomed throughout the farm. He was a regular vendor at numerous farmer’s markets in the region, most recently in Chester. David was also the author and illustrator of the children’s book, “Getting Along like Cats and Dogs: Kitty and Puppy at the Hay House.” He inspired countless residents of Connecticut and beyond to respect the earth, live simply, and do what you love.
David was preceded in death by his parents, and his sister, Marjorie Szerlip. He is survived by his sister, Audrey Brown and her husband Peter Cummin of Mystic, and his nephews Aaron and David Szerlip and their wives and children.
A celebration of his life will be in the Spring when the daffodils are in bloom.
Editor’s Note: The following text and photo is our original article published Jan. 26, prior to receiving the full obituary.
OLD SAYBROOK — David G. Brown, age 70, of Old Saybrook, Conn. passed away on Friday, Jan. 19, 2024. He lived and died in The Hay House in Old Saybrook, which had neither electricity nor plumbing. He was an accomplished painter and a deeply spiritual man. He sold flowers, jams and more at numerous local markets. He was a remarkable man.
Visit the Dignity Memorial site at this link to read the ever-increasing number of heartfelt tributes to this extraordinary person, who touched so many lives.
An obituary and details of services have not been posted yet. We have been promised them by David’s sister as soon as they are available, and will publish them immediately after receiving them.
If you did not know him, it is hard to explain why there is such a widespread and extensive outpouring of grief in response to David’s unexpected passing. Perhaps the tribute that Carol Adams posted on Facebook may help. Carol is the founder and owner of Ashlawn Farm Coffee—we publish her words here with her permission.
First of all, it seems that anything anyone may say about David Brown is sure to fall short and be an understatement. With that in mind, I just would like to express that it still just doesn’t feel possible that David Brown is not walking this earth anymore.
What an incredible life!
He was hugely present in our community: as a talented and dedicated painter, an organic gardener, a farmer, a teacher, a caretaker of the earth, a dog breeder, a spiritual person, a helper, an organizer, a constant thinker, an idealist, a philosopher and a friend.
And you would just run into him everywhere.
I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who didn’t know David or at least know of him!
My coffee house is blessed to have his painting of our farm (where the coffee business started and thrived for the first 15 years) above the Cafe entrance and we think back fondly on the many years of David’s annual art shows before Christmas at Ashlawn!
David was a main character and a favorite at the Lyme Farmer’s Market at our farm in Lyme, and it was from him that we got our sweet little doggy Princess, a Malti-Shit who is a side character in his now-almost-famous children’s book.
David also painted my three children, works that we will always treasure. He surely was a special guy, one of a kind.
So many of us will sure miss David! What a void he leaves by going too soon, but he enriched our lives, his town, this whole area, and the lives of lots and lots of people.
This link is a video of the unveiling of the farm mural at the Ashlawn Farm Café in Old Saybrook, which took place 10 years ago.
