Stephen Thomas Brown, Sr.

Stephen Thomas Brown, age 90, passed from this life at home in Timnath, CO, on November 13, 2025, after five years of increasing health problems and twelve years of living with Lewy Body Dementia. Steve's clear-headed, practical business acumen, sense of humor, and enthusiasm for life were reflected in all he did. He embraced everyone he met and never let differences—political, religious, or social—stand between him and others.

Steve was born on September 4, 1935, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Thomas Nelson Brown and Ester Maud Sloan. Like most kids in the 1930s and early 40s where both parents worked, Steve was left to his own devices most days. With his cocker spaniel Rusty in the basket on his bicycle, he would roam miles from his home in Folcroft, often to Philadelphia International Airport, to watch airplanes and dream of the future when he could fly away.

His life as an entrepreneur began early with his first money-making venture at age five. Picture a red-brick row house with flowers along the sidewalk. With his mother away at work, he cut all the flowers and sold them to the neighbor ladies. By the time he graduated from Sharon Hill High School, he had delivered newspapers on his bicycle, was a soda jerk at the drugstore, delivered telegrams and medicine to the gypsy camp outside town, and packed boxes in a toilet paper factory.

He loved spending time at his grandpa's New Jersey truck farm, where he got his first taste for riding a horse, growing crops and working with farm animals.

While attending Pennsylvania State University, Steve was an active member of Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity. He arranged to use the fraternity kitchen at night, making hamburgers, selling them to his hungry fraternity brothers and making enough money to cover all his personal expenses and tuition. He graduated in 1957 with a degree in Marketing and then briefly attend Rutgers University.

In 1957, Steve married Ann Louise Ludwig. Their family soon expanded with three sons. He began working for the Aluminum Company of America in 1960 and was at last flying in those airplanes he dreamed about. The family lived in Lima, Peru, then Jamaica, followed by a year in Miami as regional sales manager for all South America, which required three weeks of travel per month. An exhausting routine that took Steve away from his growing boys far too much.

He was promoted to President and General Manager of Alcoa de Centro America (Aldeca), an aluminum extrusion business, and the family moved to San Salvador, El Salvador, in 1969. Several years later Steve purchased Aldeca, which he continued to own until his death. During the 1970s, El Salvador was undergoing political and social turmoil, an increasingly dangerous situation requiring bodyguards and always being armed. He learned that his name was on a terrorist hit list and the family returned to the states in 1979.

In the 1970s, Steve purchased a small cattle ranch near Wellington, CO. With their sons in boarding school, Steve and Ann moved to Fort Collins. He continued managing the company in El Salvador, expanding its sales divisions into other Central American countries. Steve and Ann eventually divorced.

In the following years, not only did the aluminum company expand dramatically, but the small Wellington cattle business also outgrew its acreage. Steve moved the operation to Beaver Creek Ranch near Walden, CO. This working cattle ranch became a refuge and favorite gathering place for family and friends.

Steve married Margie Garrigues Hummel in 1995. They enthusiastically embraced their extended, blended family and were blessed with 30 years working together and traveling the world. Steve was an avid reader, active supporter of the Fort Collins Symphony, loved attending live theater, and dancing--especially the jitterbug. But most, he loved playing with his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, whether setting up a tent at the ranch, having tea parties or crawling around on the floor.

Steve is survived by his wife Margie Garrigues Brown, sons Stephen (Yolanda) Brown Jr. and Gregory Brown, step-daughter Earen Hummel; grandchildren Emily (Cameron) Shinn, Jacob (Chelsea) Brown, Wolfgang Songhurst and Giana Brown; and great-grandchildren Reagan Shinn, Ike Shinn and Evelyn Songhurst. He is preceded in death by his parents and his beloved son Michael.

The family extends their deepest appreciation to Steve's caregivers, first with Visiting Angels (Dana Snyder) and for the last two years with Touching Hearts at Home (Nathan Walter, Rylie Gallegos and McKenna Wiggins).

In lieu of flowers, please donate to either the Lewy Body Dementia Association https://www.lbda.org or Dementia Together, a local organization for anyone living with dementia and their carepartners. Contact Cyndy Luzinski 970-305-5271, https://dementiatogether.org

A funeral service will be held 10am, Thursday, November 20, 2025 at Bohlender Funeral Chapel.