Stater Bros. leader Jack Brown remembered as hometown hero



ONTARIO >> One word came to mind for Pete Van Helden, president and chief executive officer of Stater Bros. Markets, as he surveyed the few thousand people who had gathered Saturday morning at the Citizens Business Bank Arena to remember Stater Bros. Executive Chairman Jack H. Brown.

That word was love, he said.

“This is not so much a memorial service but a celebration of the life of a man who embodied the spirit of the American dream,” said Van Helden as he opened Brown’s memorial service at the Citizens Business Bank Arena.

• Photos: Community celebrates life of late Stater Bros. CEO Jack Brown

Brown died Nov. 13 at the age of 78. He served as president and chief executive officer of Stater Bros. Markets for more than 35 years and as chairman for Stater Bros. for more than 30 years.

Brown’s vision for Stater Bros. was not to be the biggest supermarket chain in Southern California but to be the best, said Dan Meyer, executive vice president of retail operations, during the service,.

It was a vision that “we could all get behind and support,” said George Frahm, executive vice president of administration and distribution.

Before and throughout the service, Brown was referred to as a caring and genuine man who viewed his employees as family and was proud to be an American.

“He was a good guy who did a lot of good things for San Bernardino,” said Sylvia Makus as she walked into the Ontario arena. Makus retired in 1996 after 30 years with Stater Bros. as a meat wrapper, most recently at the Lake Arrowhead store. She was among many former employees — several of whom said they had worked for the grocery chain for decades — who came to pay their respects to Brown.

“He knew how to connect with everyone. It didn’t matter if you were a box cutter or newly hired executive,” Executive Vice President of Marketing Dennis McIntyre said of Brown during the service. “He treated everyone the same.”

• Related story: Stater Bros. leader Jack Brown remembered as friend, fighter in grocery industry

Time and again Saturday, from the stage or in video interviews, people spoke of Brown as a father figure and the company he oversaw as family.

“Jack was my mentor and the father I never had,” said McIntyre. “He was the only CEO I ever knew who put people ahead of profits.”

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McIntyre credited Brown’s intuition for giving him “a sixth sense for doing the right thing for the right reasons.”

Inland Empire Girl Scouts and Cub Scouts handed out American flags to people as they entered the venue that was filled with photos of Brown throughout the years. Brown liked to remind people that he was born on Flag Day, and he was known to be a deeply patriotic man.

When McIntyre implored the crowd to chant “USA!” loud enough for Brown to hear in heaven — “I want you to rock this place like it’s never been rocked before” — thousands of flags waved as people fulfilled his wish.

Local law enforcement agencies, Teamsters and the general public also came out to pay their respects to Brown, who in addition to being celebrated as a patriot and father figure was also referred to as a “hometown hero.”

Professional golfer Dave Stockton, a San Bernardino native like Brown and his longtime friend who has worked closely with Stater Bros. Charities, said in a video interview that Brown was perhaps the most influential person ever to step foot in that city.

• Related story: Stater Bros. leader Jack Brown dies at 78

The Donovan Gray Brass Quintet performed before and throughout the service. A produce clerk from a Yorba Linda store with 26 years service sang the national anthem; a 14-year employee from corporate accounting also sang “Power of the Dream” during the service.

After the service concluded and everyone had spilled outside, four vintage warplanes flew over twice in the missing man formation. Yet it was Brown himself who moments before had provided an emotional coda to the event. In the days following his death, a recording Brown made on April 27, 2008 — it wasn’t clear why he made it — was discovered in his office. Van Helden described it as Brown’s “final thoughts to all he loved.”

Suddenly Brown’s voice filled the arena.

“I loved each of you so,” he said to his family. “Keep me in your hearts, because I still stand beside you.”

And then he addressed his Stater Bros. family.

“You, too, were my life,” he said. “You, too, are my legacy.”

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