Remembering The Great Jack H. Brown

By Nylles Vernon | Staff Writer |

Jack H. Brown, the beloved spirit of the southern California supermarket chain Stater Bros., has recently passed on Nov. 13.

Publicly known as “Our Jack,” Brown served as the Executive Chairman for the company and was a native of San Bernardino.

His humble beginnings started when he was just 12-years-old, taking a job as a box boy at Berk’s Market back in the ‘50s.

After the death of his father, he later went on to study business administration and ended up graduating from UCLA.

Brown was also a Navy Veteran who proudly served with the Pacific Fleet of the United States Navy during the Vietnam War.

In 2004, he was awarded the “Friend of the Veteran” award which was given to him by The Riverside National Cemetery Veterans’ Advisory Committee for his volunteering services helping other fellow veterans.

After the Navy, Jack decided to stay within the supermarket community, using his business knowledge and experience to work his way up to becoming Chief Executive Officer of Stater Bros.

In an interview with the OCRegister.com earlier this year, Brown mentioned that in order to be respected you have to start from the bottom and work your way up through the ranks of the company.

“You learn the business from the foundation up,” he said. “You learn about taking care of customers. You learn about taking care of each other.”

During his time representing the company that he loved, he strived for excellence in providing customers with high quality food, products and more importantly, quality service.

This dedication lead to Brown receiving many awards, such as “The Hall of Achievement Award” from The California Grocers Association in 2001 and “Sidney R. Rabb Award” in 2005.

Within his 35 years as the CEO and chairman of Stater Bros., Brown was also a lover of philanthropy and was no stranger to helping others whom were less fortunate.

Brown founded Stater Bros. Charities in 2008, this made it possible for the markets to give back in a way that benefitted the surrounding communities.

In addition to the Stater Bros. charities, he also helped in founding the Boys and Girls Club in San Bernardino, and the founding Chairman of Children’s Fund of San Bernardino County.

Because of his community support, the campus chose to name one of it’s buildings “Jack H. Brown Hall” in 1992 after his contribution of $1 million to fund building upgrades.

Jessica Carasa, a philosophy major said, “I had never heard of him until now, or that he contributed that much money to the school. He seemed like a really generous guy.”

The building currently houses the College of Business & Public Administration, Department of Mathematics as well as Computer Sciences.

Along with being adjunct professor, he also contributed many scholarships to the university that will continue to carry on his great legacy.

“I actually heard about his passing from my Mother, she said she saw it on the news the other night. It’s unfortunate because he had done so much for the community and people will never really knew much about him.” said Medical student Kenneth Adkins.

He was loved and adored by his family and friends, as well as his employees and the great customers of his Stater Bros. Markets.

We will forever remember the great Jack H. Brown, as an amazing businessman and philanthropist who would give anything to make this world a better place.