Leo Brown

Leo Matthew Brown, 75, of Chattanooga passed away Sunday, February 26, 2017. A visitation will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. on Friday, March 10 at Chattanooga Funeral Home North Chapel in Hixson, TN. Services will be at 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 11 at The Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Chattanooga with a reception to follow in the Parish Hall. Leo was born on January 14, 1942 in Minneapolis, Minnesota to Dorothy “Dot” Brown and Louis E. Brown. Leo attended Monterey High School in Lubbock where he met the love of his life, Barbara Kay Black. The two sweethearts married on February 23, 1963 and later that year he became employed by MassMutual Insurance Co. in Lubbock. In 1964 he graduated from Texas Tech University (where he was a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity) with a Bachelor of Arts degree and over the next five years worked as a MassMutual agent before eventually being promoted to supervisor, recruiting and training new agents. In 1968 he transferred to the company’s home office in Springfield, MA where he worked as a sales promotion assistant for two years before becoming the company’s assistant general agent in Indianapolis, IN in 1970. In 1978 he became the general agent in Chattanooga, TN and in 1985 returned to Indianapolis where he served as agency vice-president for six years before accepting the general agent position in Oklahoma City, OK in 1991. After thirty-three years of dedication to the only firm he’d ever worked for, and uprooting his family time and again going wherever the company felt he was needed and could do the most good, he and Barbara decided in 1996 to return to Chattanooga where he joined the financial services firm of Davis, Smith & Brown as a partner and worked until his death. Since that firm was affiliated with MassMutual, his own service to the company spanned well over fifty years. Many words are used to describe Leo Brown. He was kind and loving. Caring and giving. Loyal and supportive. A wonderful role model. In addition, his personal desire to make a difference in the communities in which he lived led to a 40-year record of distinguished philanthropic service to programs and organizations with visions and purposes he supported. In the Chattanooga area alone, he devoted countless hours and energy to the following affiliations: The Serra Club (Member), The Chattanooga Rotary Club (Member), Youth Leadership of Chattanooga (Founder/Board Member), Tennessee Catholic Public Policy Commission (Board Member), the Caldstead Foundation (Board Member/Finance Committee), Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce (Member), and Notre Dame High School (Board Member, Finance Committee, Significant Supporter and Benefactor). He will be missed by every organization and institution he served, but none more than CHI Memorial Hospital where he began volunteering in 1996. There, he became the Foundation’s board chair and was instrumental in helping achieve the hospital’s goal of bringing Memorial Cancer Services all together under one roof with advanced technology, physician support and compassionate support for patients. He also served on the hospital’s board of directors and became chair of that board in 2007, while serving on numerous committees including the Mission Forward Steering Committee, the group behind the $318 million expansion that is now Guerry Heart and Vascular Center and the new South Tower. Passionate about creating a healing environment for patients, Leo also co-chaired the Chapel fundraising effort in CHI’s Inspired Heroes fundraising campaign. Even after his term on the Foundation Board of Directors ended, he continued to assist in fundraising by actively participating in the Foundation’s Golf Tournament Committee and had planned to chair this year’s fall tournament. In his spare time, Leo enjoyed playing golf, reading, and attending his grandchildren’s events. He was preceded in death by his parents and two brothers, Vincent Brown of Lubbock, TX, and Thomas Brown of Levelland, TX, and infant daughter Mary Kathryn. He is survived by his loving wife Barb; two sons, Steven Patrick and wife Dena of Richmond, VA, and Scott Anthony and wife Lisa of Dunwoody, GA; one daughter, Grace Elizabeth Brown of Philadelphia, PA; six grandchildren, Hannah, Emily and Braeden Brown of Richmond, VA and Matthew, Molly and Gracie Brown of Dunwoody, GA; four brothers, Bruce and wife Claudyne of Potomac Falls, VA, John and wife Kay of Lubbock, TX, Michael and wife Patricia of Scottsdale, AZ, and Timothy and wife Pam of Lubbock, TX; one brother-in-law, Jim Black and wife Lorrie of Wichita Falls, TX, and a great many nieces and nephews, great-nieces and nephews, cousins, and countless friends. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to two charities close to Leo’s heart:

The Rotary Club of Chattanooga Miracle Field Project

www.chattanoogarotary.com or by mail at:

Rotary Club of Chattanooga

100 W Martin Luther King Blvd. Suite 506

Chattanooga, TN 37402

CHI Memorial Foundation

www.memorial.org or by mail at:

CHI Memorial Hospital

2525 de Sales Avenue

Chattanooga, TN 37404