ROCKPORT — Joseph E. Brown, 85, of Rockport, died April 10, 2015, at Miles Memorial Hospital in Damariscotta. Born in San Francisco, Calif., on Dec. 14, 1929, he was the son of Leroy D. and Oro Ackley Brown.

A major in English at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Hawaii, Joe then served in the U.S. Navy from 1948- 1952 as a journalist and public information specialist in the Pacific during the Korean Conflict.

A distinguished award winning freelance writer and photographer, Joe wrote and edited for Harcourt Brace Jovanovich in San Diego, Calif., from 1985-1987 and served as editor of Sea magazine in Newport Beach, Calif., from 1982-1985. He was a full-time freelance writer and photographer specializing in marine science, wildlife and environment from 1971 – 1982. He was editor and publisher of Oceans magazine in San Diego from 1969- 1971. Before Oceans he was a reporter, assistant city editor and editor of the Sunday feature section of the San Diego Union newspaper. Joe also was a war correspondent in Saigon, Vietnam, in 1966 for Copley News Service.

After returning from Vietnam he produced and wrote several special interest books for many companies including Continental Airlines, Sea World, U.S. National Park Service, Sierra Club, H.M. Gousha Co., University of Southern California and Texas A&M University. Joe authored 12 books and several hundred articles for major magazines such as Readers Digest, Smithsonian, American Heritage and many travel and sailing magazines.

He married Anne "Bobby" Ensign on April 30, 1976, in La Jolla, Calif.

Joe's personal interests were sailing, travel and wildlife. Joe and Bobby sailed much of the California Coast and to the oceanic islands in the Pacific off of Mexico. They also sailed in the Caribbean and the Atlantic coast from Down East Maine to New York, and especially loved island hopping in Penobscot Bay. They loved and owned old classic wood boats, three of which were Hinkleys, one sloop and two yawls. The Browns have lived in an old wood 1939 home near the harbor in the Village of Rockport since 1990.

Joe enjoyed the friends and activities in the Rockport Boat Club, The Coastal Mountain Land Trust and the Nature Conservancy.

Surviving is his wife, Anne "Bobby" Brown of Rockport; his children, Joseph Guramur, Mark J. Brown, Teri E. Brown and Erik R. Brown; his sisters, Joanna Linden, Nancy McClelland, Sara Brenneise and Martha Kruger; his grandchildren, Isaiah W. Brown, Johnny Brown, Meghan E. Gonzalez, Nevin Brown and Maya Brown; and his former wife, Christa Nearing Cupp.

There are no services planned and interment will be private and held at the convenience of the family.

Memorial gifts may be made in his memory to Friends of the Rockport Library, P.O Box 8, Rockport, ME 04856.

Arrangements are with Long Funeral Home & Cremation Service.