Edwin John Brown was born in 1892, in Clifton, Kansas. He received his teaching credential at the age of eighteen and acted as principal of a grammar school in Agenda, Kansas while in his early twenties. In 1922, he graduated from Kansas State Teachers College with a B.S. degree and shortly afterwards attended Stanford University to earn his Ph.D. In 1928, he returned to Kansas and directed the Graduate School of Education at Kansas State Teachers College until 1944. In addition, he served as the Dean of St. Louis University from 1945-1951.

Brown was the founder and head of Santa Clara University’s Department of Education from 1951-1962. Brown's personal and professional interests were varied: while at Santa Clara University, he was a member of numerous honor societies, a scout for the St. Louis Browns baseball team, and a teacher at the University of Colorado’s summer session. He wrote four textbooks, the most well-known of which is Everyday Problems in Classroom Management (1933), and he published over 100 articles dealing with education, mental health, and contemporary youth. He also wrote poetry, as well as the novel And Thine the Glory, which was never published. In addition, he established the Edwin J. Brown Fellowship at Santa Clara University, which is awarded annually to a qualified graduate student enrolled in the Teacher Education program.

After his retirement in 1962, Brown was named emeritus chairman and Emeritus Chairman and Professor of Santa Clara University’s Department of Education until his death in 1977 at the age of 85.