Richard DeStasio, who had trained Brown's horses--including Honey's Contender--for the past three years, described his former client as, "a wonderful man.""It was more than a great trainer-owner relationship; he was a true friend," explained DeStasio. "He loved communication, and whenever we spoke by phone, it was always a nice conversation. There was never any blame in our discussions; if there were setbacks or disappointments, it was just 'okay, what's the next step?' That's the way he was."Brown, who lived at his Shannondale residence in Harpers Ferry, W. Va., was a member of the New York Thoroughbred Breeders' Association, the Charles Town Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, and the West Virginia Breeders' Association. In addition to widow Patricia, his wife of 47 years, daughters Dorian Nichols of Frederick, Maryland, and Deborah Horton of St. Paul, Minnesota, son Anthony Brown of New York City, and four grandchildren survive him. Contributions in Brown's name can be sent to the Leukemia Society of America, 2900 Eisenhower Avenue, Suite 419, Alexandria, Va. 22314.
S. Christian Brown, retired former president and CEO of Criticare Therapy Products in Richmond, Va., and an active Thoroughbred owner and breeder in West Virginia and New York since 1972, died of leukemia on Memorial Day, May 28, at Winchester Medical Center in Winchester, Virginia. He was 73.Brown was an Army veteran of both World War II and Korea and a graduate of the University of Arkansas. Two of the stakes fillies he bred raced in the name of his wife, Patricia, including New York-bred Windswept Wings, who won five stakes at Aqueduct, Laurel, and Finger Lakes at 2, 3 and 4 from 1991 through 1993, and New York-bred stakes-placed winner (in 2000) Honey's Contender. He also bred multiple stakes-winning New York-bred Noble's Honey ($362,625), who raced in the name of P.C.B. Enterprises, as did three other his other homebred stakes winners of the late '80s and early '90s: Skin's Fan (40 wins or placings), Angel of Honour (16 wins), and Golden Gull. Another 1989-90 multiple stakes winner bred by Brown was A Fur Piece. Brown, who kept broodmares at Carl Lizza Jr.'s and Joseph Bartone's Highcliff Farm in Delanson, was a shareholder in the multiple Grade 1-winning New York stallion, Noble Nashua, who sired Brown's homebred stakes-winning Noble's Honey.