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J.B. Brown
March 23, 1926 - July 1, 2001
In 1981 J.B. Brown founded USA Properties Fund, which he built into a highly successful multifamily development and property management company in Roseville, CA. In 1997 he passed day-to-day control of the company over to his handpicked and trained management team, led by his son, Geoffrey Brown. Because of J.B.'s legacy of leadership, USA, now with ownership control of over 10,000 apartment homes, is widely respected throughout California as a company dedicated to excellence and integrity.
J.B. was born March 23, 1926 in Canton, IL. He attended Lake Forest College in Lake Forest, IL where he graduated Magna Cum Laude in 1945, and later served on the Board of Trustees. Following graduation he hitchhiked to California with ten dollars in his pocket to attend graduate school at Stanford University. His studies were interrupted by a tour of duty with the U.S. Army in Korea, but he eventually received his Master of Business Administration from Stanford University in 1950.
From 1969 to 1981 J.B. was President and Chief Executive Officer of several real estate subsidiaries he founded for national publicly held companies. These included Calmark Properties, Inc., originally a real estate subsidiary of Esmark; Continental Multi-Homes Inc., which was a subsidiary of American Financial Corporation; and Larwin Multi-Family Corporation, once a subsidiary of CNA Corporation.
Throughout his career, J.B's love of learning was never extinguished. He was a devoted lover of history and had a mastery of facts, dates and geography with which he could hold listeners spellbound. Upon passing the mantle of leadership of his company to his son, Geoffrey, he attended graduate history courses at Sacramento State as part of his ongoing quest for knowledge. This endless pursuit of learning was furthered by the deep love that J.B. and his wife, Janice, shared for traveling across the globe.
On July 1, 2001, J.B. Brown, age 75, Chairman USA Properties Fund, Inc. passed away in Granite Bay, CA. He left a rich legacy not only to his daughters, sons and grandchildren, but to everyone who shared time with him. J.B. is greatly missed, but never forgotten.