By Kelly Heyboer | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on December 15, 2015 at 9:30 AM, updated December 15, 2015 at 10:55 AM
RANDOLPH — David Browne appeared to be a rising star in New Jersey education.
The veteran educator had a $167,500-a-year job as superintendent of the Randolph school district in Morris County.
In recent years, Browne had been taking a more public role in education, writing editorials and speaking to legislators as an advocate for statewide education issues. He and his wife, Upper Saddle River school superintendent Monica Browne, lived in a historic house in an upscale neighborhood in Bergen County with their two young daughters.
“For too long, educators – and I’ve been guilty of this myself – have stopped trying to have a voice. No more. I don’t want to stay quiet anymore,” Browne, 56, told an education blogger over the summer.
Then, he went silent and his life appeared to fall apart.
In September, Browne took a medical leave from his job with no public explanation. On Oct. 13, he was found lying outside his garage as it burned to the ground. Two weeks later, he resigned from his superintendent job, accepting a $62,350 payout from the school district.