Former Oklahoma City Director Lee Brawner Dies

-- Library Journal, 02/15/2006

Lee Brawner, the former executive director of Oklahoma City's Metropolitan Library System, died February 8. He was 70. During Brawner's 28-year tenure as director, the library system grew from 11 facilities to 17. A champion of intellectual freedom, he won the 1998 Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award and was a tireless crusader against censoring library materials. Prior to his career in Oklahoma City, Brawner worked as a librarian in Texas at both the Dallas and Waco public libraries. He held a MLS from George Peabody College, Nashville. In 2003 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award, which was named after him, from the Metropolitan Library System's Endowment Trust.