David E. Brown was born in Neenah, Wisconsin; when he was 12 years old, he moved to Santa Clara, California with his family. He graduated from San Jose State University, and at the age of 23 he started his wildlife career with the Arizona Game & Fish Department in Tucson. He moved to the Phoenix headquarters in 1968 and retired from the AZGFD in 1988. He soon began another career at Arizona State University as an adjunct professor in the biology department. Brown authored 23 books, 250+ articles, and 120+ published scientific papers on a broad range of topics from tree squirrels to jaguars, waterfowl to upland game birds, and wetlands to desert grasslands. He created the Biotic Communities Map with Dr. Charles Lowe in 1982, a document that to this day is used as the standard descriptor of habitats of the Southwest.