Burgess Byron Brown – a.k.a. “Bud Brown” passed away on June 1, 2023 at the age of 89. He was the beloved husband of Althea Brown, the father of David and Daniel Brown, and the brother of Joy and Jackie Ellithorpe.
Hamer Toyota, in Mission Hills. Bud became the Treasurer of Lee Hamer Memorial Charities, which enabled him to continue his passion and Hamer’s mission to provide help and support to those in need.
Bud was born on July 27, 1933 in East St. Louis, Illinois, where he lived until his parents, Burgess Byron Brown Sr. and Gilda Mae Gable Brown moved the family to Los Angeles in 1936. At
the age of seven, Bud started attending Sunday school at South La Brea Foursquare Church, where he met five-year-old Althea May Ream who told her mom that one day she was going to marry a boy in her Sunday school class. In 1956 it became true when Bud married Althea, the love of his life.
After graduating from Dorsey High School in 1951, Bud went to work as a carpenter for a roofing company and was then drafted into the Army in 1953 and served his two years of military service in Germany.
Bud began his career with GTE in 1956 as a cable-splicer. In 1967 their son David was born and in 1971 their son Daniel was born. Bud was a devoted family man who especially enjoyed performing handyman duties around the house with his son David. Bud took the family on annual excursions to Disneyland and vacations to Lake Tahoe, where they went water skiing and boating while simply enjoying the beauty of the lake and surrounding mountains.
Bud taught his sons good life values (don’t lie, cheat, or steal), and always encouraged the benefit of studying hard, getting good grades and a good education. Bud was the sort of man who led by example, and his strong work ethic was passed down to his kids, always encouraging them to put forth their best effort in anything they would do.
Bud was promoted into the position of District Manager/Community Relations at GTE. This was the position that spurred his interest in community service and he became involved with a variety of non-profit organizations, working alongside others for the betterment of the community.
He retired from GTE in May of 1993 and continued his love for the community as he started his new career in June, 1994 as the Public and Community Relations Manager at
Although he was deeply involved in volunteerism and supporting the San Fernando and neighboring valleys, Bud never sought the spotlight. He had such an enormous spirit of generosity and so much love to share that he lit up any room he entered and others sought his leadership and mentorship.
Bud had a true passion for helping less well- known organizations who were quietly working to improve the lives of our community’s most disadvantaged individuals. He had enormous empathy for people … people who could really use a little help to have a better life … and he worked tirelessly to help improve their lives.
One of these organizations is Tierra Del Sol, who Bud became involved with in the 1980s. He poured his heart and soul into the organization and improving its programs, services, facilities and community profile. His tireless efforts led to raising a million dollars to “Burn Tierra’s Mortgage,” and he helped Tierra mature as a community based organization by bringing so many successful and highly respected community leaders into service as board members, advisors and as employment partners.
In addition to his work for Tierra, Bud also served on the board of numerous organizations such as New Directions For Youth, Holy Cross Medical Center, Los Angeles Mission College, San Fernando Valley Community Foundation, and Goodwill Southern California, to name a few. He also received a number of honors including the Fernando Award for volunteerism in 1995, Olive View-UCLA Medical Center’s Nelle Reagan Award for Distinguished Community Service in 2002, and dozens of awards from a variety of non-profit organizations.
Bud retired from Hamer Toyota in 2011. During retirement, Bud liked to spend time puttering around his backyard, trimming his roses and watering his plants and trees. He loved sports and one of his favorite pastimes was going to Dodgers games. He and Althea also enjoyed lunch and dinner dates with close friends.