08/27/2026
Some people become part of the story of a place. Others become woven so deeply into its very fabric that it is difficult to imagine the story without them.
For Northside Christian School, Russ Brandes is one of those people.
Last week, after a long and courageous battle with cancer, Russ was called Home into the loving arms of our Savior.
For decades, Russ and his beloved wife, Dr. Mary Brandes, have poured themselves into Northside with extraordinary faith, vision, generosity, and relentless service. Mary was the very first teacher hired at Northside and would go on to help lead our school, but theirs has always been a shared legacy, a family whose commitment to Christian education helped shape Northside into the school it is today.
There are countless pieces of our campus that bear evidence of their generosity. But those are only the visible reminders of what Russ and Mary have given to Northside. Their impact reaches far beyond our campus, through generations of students and families who have been blessed by their extraordinary faithfulness to this school and its mission.
In generations of students who have walked these halls. In teachers who have been able to teach, coaches who have been able to lead, families who have found a home here, and young men and women who have left this campus knowing more deeply who they are and Whose they are.
Russ and Mary have not simply supported Northside. They helped build it.
Our hearts ache alongside Mary and the entire Brandes family, and we ask our Mustang family to continue surrounding them with prayer and love. Yet even in our grief, we rejoice in the beautiful and unshakable assurance that Russ is home, whole, restored, and in the arms of Jesus.
Russ, thank you for believing in this place. Thank you for serving it so faithfully, giving so generously, and leaving your fingerprints on more of Northside than we could ever begin to name. Northside may be only one small part of the remarkable story of your life, but you will forever be an immeasurable part of ours.
Well done, good and faithful servant.
See his obituary here: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/name/russel-brandes-obituary?id=62256431
