Browne C. Lewis, dean of the North Carolina Central University School of Law, died on June 2 while attending a conference in Colorado. She was 60 years old.
Professor Lewis became dean of the NCCU law school on July 1, 2020. Earlier, she was the Leon M. and Gloria Plevin Professor of Law and the founding director of the Center for Health Law and Policy at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. Her research focused on the areas of bioethics, environmental, 
family, and inheritance law. Professor Lews was the author of Papa’s Baby: Paternity and Artificial Insemination (New York University Press, 2013).
A native of Natchez, Louisiana, Lewis held a bachelor’s degree in political science from Grambling State University in Louisiana, a master’s degree in public policy from the Humphrey Institute at the University of Minnesota, a juris doctorate from the University of Minnesota School of Law, and a master’s degree in energy and environmental law from the University of Houston Law Center.