Sanford 'Sandy' Brown is a community activist, long-distance walker and ordained minister from Seattle, Washington. Inspired by The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho, he trekked the Camino de Santiago in 2008 and since then has walked or biked over 20,000km on pilgrim trails in Spain, France, Switzerland, Italy and the United States. He leads group pilgrimage treks through his travel company, www.pilgrimpaths.com.
Sandy earned his undergraduate degree in medieval history at the University of Washington in Seattle, his MDiv at Garrett Theological Seminary, which honored him in 2006 as a Distinguished Alumnus, and in 1997 earned a doctorate from Princeton Theological Seminary in gender, sexuality and spirituality. In 2023 the European Association of Via Francigena Ways bestowed its Honor Award on Sandy for his contributions to the development of the route. He has two grown sons and lives with his wife, Theresa Elliott, in Lucca, Italy.
