CBB NEWS

Owsley Brown II, Liquor Company Chief, Dies at 69
By SUSANNE CRAIG
Published: September 29, 2011

Owsley Brown II, who expanded his family’s Kentucky liquor company to reach a global market for its brands, among them Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey, Southern Comfort and Finlandia vodka, died on Monday in Louisville, Ky. He was 69.

Matthew Barzun, a son-in-law, said the cause was complications of pneumonia.

Mr. Brown was a former chief executive of Brown-Forman, the company founded in Louisville in 1870 by his great-grandfather George Garvin Brown. The company’s first brand, Old Forester Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whisky, was America’s first bottled bourbon and remains one of Brown-Forman’s strongest sellers.

Mr. Brown worked his way up the ranks of the family business, becoming chief executive in 1993. Two years later, he added the title of chairman.

Besides expanding into foreign markets under Mr. Brown’s leadership, Brown-Forman also introduced a number of new products. In 1995, it released Tropical Freezes, which the company calls the first blended freezer cocktails. The drink, which comes in a foil package, was another big seller. In 2002, Brown-Forman joined with Miller Brewing to produce Jack Daniel’s Hard Cola.

But he resisted calls for merging Brown-Forman with another company. Speaking in June, he said mergers could “breed arrogance and complacency, and even a sense of entitlement.”

“One thing seems clear to me,” he said, “pursuing size for its own sake is a very poor choice.”

Mr. Brown lived in Louisville and was a leading philanthropist there. He is survived by his wife, Christy; his brothers W. L. Lyons Brown Jr., known as Lee, and Martin Shallenberger Brown Sr.; a sister, Ina Brown Bond; his children Owsley Brown III, Brooke Barzun and Augusta Holland; and nine grandchildren.

Mr. Barzun, a former United States ambassador to Sweden and now President Obama’s national campaign finance chairman, said Mr. Brown “deserves credit for turning a great American company into a great global company.”

He said his father-in-law favored tradition and quality, be it in his choice of drink, his vision for Brown-Forman or his hopes for Louisville. In June, Mr. Brown received a corporate citizenship awarded from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, based in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Brown’s favorite drink, he said, was Old Forester Bourbon over ice with a splash of water or club soda.