Donald Allen Brown

Donald "Don" Allen Brown, age 83, of Delaware, Ohio passed away early Monday morning August 25, 2025, at the Arbors of Delaware.
Donald was born on February 28, 1942, to the late Allen Phillips Brown and Elvire Elena (Buchan) Brown.
Don was well known by his family for being a "jack of all trades". His father Allen managed a string of hotels, and at a very young age Don helped his father with the maintenance of the hotels. As a 14-year-old, Don was learning all manners of skills, from maintaining the boiler rooms to fixing electrical problems. This love for fixing things and tinkering would only grow with age, as Don became quite good at fixing most anything under the sun.
After completing high school, Donald joined the United States Navy, serving during the cold war era. Following his time in the Navy, Don worked all manner of jobs and became truly skilled at so many trades. His main profession post-Navy was iron working, which he did until an injury forced him to stop around 1979. Before his injury, he had worked on several landmark Columbus buildings, including the Nationwide Building, the Ohio Historical Center, and the Lazarus Building. Don worked every type of technical job from electronics to HVAC to being a radio communications technician for the state of Ohio; he truly was a man with great technical intelligence and ability.
In his spare time, Don would tinker away at projects. Some that he was particularly fond of include his orange tractor he made, lawn mowers made for lawn mower races, and a portable table saw. Other pastimes of Don included watching the Atlanta braves and opening baseball cards with his son Philip, and watching NASCAR.
Don was a man of little words, but his family knew that he loved them dearly. His pride and joy were his children and grandchildren. He was a hard-working man, who loved to learn, loved his family, and could fix anything by jerry-rigging it "The Brown Way". He will be forever missed.
Donald is preceded in death by his parents Allen Phillips Brown and Elvire Elena Brown, as well as his brother Dale Brown.
Don Brown is survived by his loving wife Betsy J. Brown; son Philip Brown (Nicole Wade); daughters Kari Brown and Andrea Brown; grandchildren Sierra Brown, Braydon Reese and Isaiah Reese; sister Beverly Pepper; and many beloved nephews.
A memorial calling hours will be held at the Snyder Rodman Funeral Center in Delaware on Friday, August 29, 2025, from 4 pm - 6 pm.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to The Stefanie Spielman Fund for Breast Cancer Research by following the link here: https://www.giveto.osu.edu/makeagift/details/646870
The Snyder Funeral Center, Delaware Chapel is honored to serve the Brown family in their time of need.