Rose Brown, a native of Cucamonga, Calif., died of natural causes Aug. 20 at the age of 91.
Brown was the mother of Jack. H Brown, chairman and CEO of Stater Bros. Supermarkets, the Inland Empire’s largest employer with more than 18,000 employees, sales of $4 billion and the tag of being a Fortune 500 company.
Brown married San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Captain Jack H. Brown in 1937.
[gn_pullquote align=”right”]In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Rose Brown Scholarship at California State University, San Bernardino, Calif.Checks should be made out to
CSUSB Philanthropic Foundation
(For: Rose Brown Scholarship) and sent to
Stater Bros. Markets,
P.O. Box 150,
San Bernardino, California 92402
Arrangements under the direction of Mountain View Mortuary, San Bernardino, CA.[/gn_pullquote]In 1938, she gave birth to her only child, Jack and was only 26 years old when her husband died in San Bernardino in 1946.
She went to work to support her 8-year-old son Jack and herself. There were no grandparents alive, and she had no sisters or brothers. She literally raised her son Jack on her own.
To help his mother pay the bills, Jack started working at age 13 as a box boy at San Bernardino’s Berk’s Marketspot, located on 7th and “E” Streets.
“My work ethic came from watching my mother struggle,” said her son.
He ascended to become the chairman of the board and CEO of Stater Bros. Supermarkets.
She was very proud of her granddaughter Jacqueline Kathleen Smith and husband Mike of Indianapolis, Ind.; granddaughter Cara Brown Hoffman and husband Scott of Scottsdale, Ariz.; and granddaughter Melissa Brown Koss and husband Peter of Redlands, Calif. She loved the time shared with her great grandchildren: Kaitlyn, Colleen, Julianna, Jack Ryan, Emma, Caden, and Dylan.
