Hermione K. Brown, 87; Partner at Law Firm Counseled Stars

Hermione K. Brown, a 50-year partner at Gang, Tyre, Ramer & Brown, a leading entertainment industry law firm in Beverly Hills, has died. She was 87.

Brown, who worked until the week before her death, died Tuesday at her home in Beverly Hills. The cause of death was cancer.

“Hermione was truly an exceptional and remarkable woman. She was a great lawyer, a great partner, a great friend ... and a great human being,” said Bruce Ramer, one of the firm’s partners.

Over the course of her career, she counseled Hollywood celebrities such as George Burns, Bob Hope, Marilyn Monroe, Clint Eastwood, Janet Jackson, Martin Lawrence, Groucho Marx and Steven Spielberg.

Born in Syracuse, N.Y., Brown was a graduate of Wellesley College. She also attended UC Berkeley and the Sorbonne before working as a story analyst at 20th Century Fox.

She went on to USC Law School, where she was first in her class and editor-in-chief of the law review, according to a statement from her law firm. She joined Gang, Tyre, Ramer & Brown in 1947 and was made a partner in the early 1950s.

An influential member of the State Bar of California, Brown served on that body’s Executive Committee, Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law Section from 1984 to 1990.

She was also a member of the board of trustees of the Los Angeles Copyright Society from 1976 to 1981 and served as president of that body in 1979-80.

In 1937, she married Louis M. Brown. He died in 1996.

She is survived by her three sons, Larry, Marshall and Harold Brown, as well as several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Services will be held at 4 p.m. today at Mt. Sinai Memorial Park on Forest Lawn Drive in the Hollywood Hills.

Instead of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Louis M. Brown International Client Counseling Competition, c/o Forrest Mosten, 11661 San Vicente Blvd., Penthouse Suite 1010, Los Angeles, CA 90049.