Earl Brian

Earl Winfrey Brian Jr. (1942 to 2 November 2020) was an American physician and businessman. He graduated from medical school at Duke University and served in the Army Medical Corps in Vietnam. After leaving the service in 1970 he was appointed Director of California's Department of Health Care Services and then Secretary of the state's Agency for Health and Welfare under Governor Ronald Reagan. In that office he succeeded in introducing a two dollar co-payment from Medi-Cal recipients for each doctor's visit, but failed in an attempt to curtail Medi-Cal medical benefits when the state lost a suit brought by the California Medical Association. He resigned in 1974 to run for the United States Senate and lost the Republican primary. He then headed technology and news firms, including Biotech Capital and Infotechnology, which owned United Press International. He was convicted of conspiracy in 1996 and sentenced to four years in prison. He died on 2 November 2020 in Easton, Maryland, at the age of 78.