Laguna Resident DeVillo Brown, Food Broker, Dies

DeVillo Wood Brown, chairman of Bromar Inc. food brokerage and a longtime Laguna Beach resident, died Monday after a two-year battle with leukemia.

A memorial service for Brown, who was 71, will be held at 3 p.m. Thursday at Pacific View Memorial Park in Newport Beach.

During World War II, Brown served in Col. James Roosevelt’s Marine Raider Battalion in the Pacific, attaining the rank of major. He was awarded the Silver Star for his participation in the 1943 invasion of New Georgia and was wounded in 1944 leading his troops in the invasion of Guam. His reserve unit was also mobilized during the Korean War.

Brown founded Bromar in 1945, and since then the company has grown to 13 divisions and 1,000 employees serving the Western states. He served as chairman of the National Food Brokers Assn. as well as of that organization’s Education and Training Foundation, and in 1981 was elected to the Southern California Grocers Hall of Fame.

Brown and his wife, Arla, moved to Laguna Beach in 1972 after living for 27 years in La Canada Flintridge, where the couple were active in civic affairs. Other survivors include five children and 10 grandchildren.