He kept close ties to Georgia Tech and the College of Design, serving as the president of the Georgia Tech Foundation in the 1990s as well as on the board of advisors for the College of Design in the 2010s.

When Brown and Jim Jacoby redeveloped the polluted remnants of the Atlantic Steel mill into what is now the mixed-use neighborhood of Atlantic Station, they got some help from Brown’s friends at Georgia Tech.

The School of City and Regional Planning — also part of the College of Design — provided instrumental research and design studio work that helped convince the EPA to fund the redevelopment.

“As a Board member of the Atlanta Regional Commission during the 1990s, I had the opportunity to interface with Charlie as he envisioned the transformation of Atlantic Steel into Atlantic Station,” said School of Building Construction Professor of the Practice and fellow Georgia Tech alumnus Rick Porter.

“Few would have attempted this deal given it was one of the most polluted urban sites in the Southeast, and during the ‘90s when the metropolitan Atlanta area was under severe transportation funding restrictions due to air quality,” Porter said.

“Charlie worked tirelessly on every aspect of the development, including obtaining a special designation from the federal EPA to allow the construction of the 17^th Street Bridge over the interstate, which was prohibited by air quality regulations but critical to the success of Atlantic Station.”

 Years later, Porter viewed Brown as a confidant and supporter while mapping out the first Master of Real Estate Development (MRED) at Georgia Tech. 

“Fortuitously, Charlie was on Dean Steve French's Executive Advisory Board as I was creating the proposal for the Master of Real Estate Development degree in 2015. Charlie understood the breadth of knowledge that real estate developers had to bring "to the table" to achieve meaningful land use that was financially sustainable,” Porter said. 

“I had the chance to discuss ideas and courses with him, which ultimately helped me frame the four pillars of the MRED program based on physical characteristics, regulatory compliance, financial feasibility, and market demand. These pillars were and are foundational elements of the program.“

Brown helped pave the way for approximately 100 like-minded MRED graduates since then to build urban-shaping careers. 

Videos from the Marilyn Somers Living History Collection at the Georgia Tech Archives