Longtime business leader and philanthropist Ed Brown was laid to rest in Charlotte this week. Brown died on April 3 after a two-year fight with an aggressive form of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, according to his obituary. He was 74 years old.
Brown was well known in the Charlotte Region’s business community, holding executive roles at Bank of America and Hendrick Automotive.
Brown began his career as a credit analyst at North Carolina National Bank (NCNB) in 1972, and would go on to hold a variety of roles throughout his career in the banking industry. A 32-year veteran of Bank of America, Brown was one of former CEO Hugh McColl’s most trusted senior leaders.
“He’s one of the smartest men who ever worked at the bank,” McColl told the Charlotte Business Journal, adding that “whenever we had a difficult financial problem, he was the one I turned to.”
Six years after his retirement, Brown began a new career when he joined Hendrick Automotive, where he served as chief financial officer and then as CEO for nine years.
“Not only did Ed help us navigate historically complex issues, he led our company to significant growth and multiple years of record revenue, including 2019,” Hendrick Automotive founder Rick Hendrick said in a statement announcing Brown’s retirement.
Hendrick said Brown’s passion for expanding corporate social responsibility programs left “an indelible mark” on the company’s culture and communities it serves, the Charlotte Observer reported.
Brown and his wife of 33 years Jan Hall Brown, a graduate of Queens University of Charlotte, invested in student life at the school. A residence hall and event space are named in their honor. The Browns also have an endowed scholarship.
“We mourn the loss of this incredibly generous man whose impact will forever be embedded in Queens’ history,” Queens President Dan Lugo said in a statement.
Brown was well known for his passion, generosity, and work with charitable organizations, especially those that support education and medical advancements. For nineteen years, he was a member of the Board of Commissioners for Atrium Health. For the last nine years he was chairman of the Board of Commissioners at Atrium Health. Additionally, he served as a member of the board for Bojangles and the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. Ed was chairman of the PGA Tour Golf Course Properties board and lead trustee for Longleaf Foundation.
Brown’s longtime friend, Advocate Health CEO Eugene Woods offered a tribute to Brown on LinkedIn.
“From challenging us to build new access care sites in vulnerable communities to making sure we took care of our own teammates to pushing us to invest our resources in Black-owned equity firms, Ed worked tirelessly to make certain that Atrium Health was truly a place ‘for all,’” Woods wrote.
Read more about Brown’s life and the impact he made in the community.
