Stewart Brown, former CEO, This End Up
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, April 6, 2009
RICHMOND, Va. — Stewart Brown, the former leader of This End Up who propelled the retail success of the crate-style furniture maker and retailer, has died. He was 69.
As president and CEO from 1976 to 1990, Brown, along with his wife, Elizabeth “Libby” Brown, built the retail division and turned the furniture manufacturer into a vertical business with more than 150 mall-based stores, seven furniture plants, 10 distribution centers and more than 2,000 employees.
The Richmond, Va.-based company was founded as a manufacturer by Libby Brown's brother Steve Robertson and friend Randall Ward in 1974.
The chain eventually became a Top 100 company with sales topping $150 million. It was acquired by Melville Corp. in 1985.
In 1996, it was sold in a management-led buyout. This End Up ultimately filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2000 and closed its stores, although its intellectual assets were purchased out of bankruptcy and it maintains a presence, primarily online.
Jerry Epperson, managing director of Richmond-based Mann, Armistead & Epperson, said Brown brought banking relationships, accounting regulations and manufacturing expertise to This End Up.
“Stewart and his wife, Libby, were an amazing team and the first in the furniture industry to recognize the value of women in leadership roles,” Epperson said.
“Stewart was a great strategist,” said Caroline Hipple, a principal in consulting firm HB2 Resources and a former This End Up executive who spent more than 20 years with the company. She added that Brown “had an amazing talent for attracting, growing and inspiring people while at the same time maintaining a razor-like focus on the bottom line.”
Brown is survived by his wife, a son and daughter, a sister and five grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Massey Cancer Center, P.O. Box 980214, Richmond, Va. 23298, or the Stewart H. Brown Jr. Scholarship at the Jefferson Scholars Foundation, P.O. Box 400891, Charlottesville, Va. 22904.
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Former This End Up president Stewart Brown dies
Mar 30, 2009
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