Duane Anthony Brown, the second of four children of George Arthur Brown and Betty Jean Duhon, was born in Lafayette, Louisiana, on July 31, 1968. His grammar school education was at Immaculate Heart of Mary School in Lafayette and he attended Holy Rosary Institute there for his secondary education. Upon graduation from high school he enrolled at Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans where he obtained a B.A. in Social Science Education in 1991. For a time he contemplated joining the Missionaries of the Divine Word.

While discerning his vocation he worked as a social science teacher at Holy Rosary Institute, Lafayette, as well as serving as assistant choir director of the adult choir and choir director of the children's choir at his home parish of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Lafayette. In August of 1992 he entered the novitiate and professed his vows on August 14, 1993, at St. Dominic Priory, Denver, Colorado. He then began his initial studies at Aquinas Institute of Theology, St. Louis, Missouri.

From 1986 Duane was a member of the National Black Catholic Seminarians Association and served the organization as a board member, treasurer, vice-president and president (1995-96). On July 30, 1996, the Association awarded him the Fr. Clarence Williams Award for Outstanding and Devoted Service. In 1994 he helped found the Black Dominicans Conference and served as its first president. Duane was a gifted musician and in 1996 with two other Dominican brothers, Martin Gleeson and John Pitzer, he formed a musical- preaching group named Veritas and in 1997 completed a CD entitled "Tell the Story."

In January of 1997 Duane was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). During the following months he underwent numerous chemotherapy treatments and this time was marked with remissions followed by increasingly severe reoccurrences. The possibility of a bone marrow transplant was considered. Because of the severity of a reoccurrence Duane made his profession of solemn vows in the Chapel of St. Mary's Hospital, St. Louis, Missouri, on July 10, 1997. However, another remission occurred, and he was able to return to St. Dominic Priory. In October it was clear that it was only a matter of time before he would succumb to the disease and late on the evening of November 4, 1997, surrounded by his family, Dominican brothers and friends, he died peacefully. A funeral Mass was celebrated at College Church, St. Louis, Missouri, on November 7th, his body was taken to his home parish of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Lafayette, Louisiana, where another Mass was celebrated on November 9th. He was buried in the Dominican Friars plot at Rosaryville, Louisiana, on November 10, 1997.