Obituaries : * Lawrence Brown; Marriage, Family Counselor

Lawrence N. Brown, a marriage, family and child counselor, died Saturday at his Thousand Oaks home of lymphoma. He was 46.

He was born Aug. 20, 1949, in Corning, N.Y., and was raised in Millbrook, N.Y.

Brown moved to Santa Barbara in the early 1970s, where he earned a degree in hotel and restaurant management from Santa Barbara City College and another in psychology from UC Santa Barbara.

He later moved to Pasadena, where he completed postgraduate work before beginning his counseling practice in 1984.

He married Judy Casley-Brown in 1988 and moved to Thousand Oaks, where he founded the Act Family Treatment Program. In 1994 he founded the nonprofit Act Counseling Center for people who could not afford private therapy.

In an interview in March, Brown told The Times that he cut his 60-hour workweek in half and his $100-an-hour fee to as low as $10 after discovering he had cancer.

“I’ve had to look at my life,” he said at the time. “I’ve had to make important changes.”

Casley-Brown said, “My husband was just a very caring and loving person. He was upset to see the way people were getting lost between the cracks and he thought everyone could benefit from therapy.”

He is survived by his wife and two stepchildren, Joann and Sky Casley, all of Thousand Oaks; his father, Kenneth S. Brown of Dover Plains, N.Y.; and his brother, Kenneth S. Brown of Reading, Mass.

A memorial service is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday at the United Methodist Church of Thousand Oaks, 1000 Janss Road.

Memorial donations may be made to the Grandview Foundation, P.O. Box 40375, Pasadena, Calif. 91104.

The Neptune Society is in charge of the arrangements.

Jamison, Margaret H., 89, of Ventura, retired lab technician. Ted Mayr Funeral Home, Ventura.

Lawrason, Ethel Irene, 95, of Moorpark, retired real estate agent. Payton Mortuary.

Miller, Elisabeth C., 77, of Ojai, former cosmetician. Clausen Funeral Home, Ojai.

Ventura County obituaries are published free of charge as a public service to readers. Obituaries are based on information provided by cooperating mortuaries.