Prentiss Marsh Brown (June 18, 1889 – December 19, 1973) was an American lawyer and politician who served three full and one partial term as a Democratic U.S. Representative and Senator from the state of Michigan from 1936 to 1943.

He was also a member of the Banking and Currency Committee, and in this capacity was instrumental in helping Franklin D. Roosevelt achieve his desired wage and farm price controls.

He once stated during a radio interview that he came up with the idea for the Mackinac Bridge after an unusually bitter winter one day disrupted his commute to work by ferry and forced him to cross the strait on the brittle icy lake surface.

His son, Prentiss M. Brown, Jr., ran unsuccessfully for Congress several times, in 1952, 1956, 1958, and 1960,[1] and was the city attorney for St. Ignace for 50 years.

[2] Paul Walker Brown was a member of the Board of Regents of the University of Michigan from 1971 until 1994, and ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor in 1974.