Mr. Brown is shown standing in front of a southeast entrance to the First Presbyterian church of Lake Forest, a building adjacent to the campus and facing the then administration building, Durand Institute, on North campus. The stones are from the Second Presbyterian Church, Chicago edifice of 1851 (James Renwick, architect, the "Spotted Church". It was here that Lake Forest College's predecessor institution was founded in 1856-57, by the Lake Forest Association.

Brown was president of Johns-Manville Corporation, New York, a company that had a major asbestos plant at Waukegan that partnered with Lake Forest College in the 1940s on cooperative education programs.  President Ernest Johnson of the College, 1942-59, and former professor of economics, led in this effort that played an important role in saving the institution during World War II when the men were drafted and then after.  

See https://www.lakeforest.edu/library/archives/exhibits/lakeeffect/lakeeffect-archives.php for links to more information.