Beaufort mourns the loss of beloved chef Steve Brown who made it his business to help others

Beaufort’s Steve Brown, a beloved local restaurant owner with a larger-than-life personality who made it his mission in life to help people, has died, according to Beaufort County Coroner David Ott and confirmed by family members. He was 74.

Brown was revered not just for his companies he created that included Steve Brown Catering and Market on Ribaut Road and the Village Inn Pizza Parlor on Boundary Street but for how the life-long Beaufortonian treated customers, friends, family and colleagues in the industry — even complete strangers including dozens who were stopped in traffic on a bridge one afternoon.

His enduring motto was, “Never lay your head down on any day without blessing somebody’s life that day.” He went so far as to have that thought printed on his business notepads.

“That drove him more than money or anything else,” said his wife, Jean Brown. “He credits that back to his mother (Trannie Brown).”

Brown died Tuesday at Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston due to complications from injuries he sustained when a car accidentally struck his motorized wheelchair as he crossed Ribaut Road on April 9, Ott said.

According to Beaufort police, officers were called at 11:55 a.m. to an accident scene at 1295 Ribaut Road for a report of a car hitting Brown while he was in his motorized wheelchair. At the scene, Brown refused emergency medical services. But a few hours later, after having lunch at a restaurant, he requested medical assistance and was transported to Beaufort Medical Hospital and then to the Charleston hospital, Ott said.

“This is a very tragic death to the community,” said Ott, describing Brown as a “Beaufort icon.”

Celebration of Brown’s life scheduled

A celebration of life is planned for 2 p.m. May 5 at Kate Gleason Park in Beaufort.

Nick Borreggine, a friend, and the owner of Alvin Ord’s Sandwich Shop, Shellring Ale Works and Fat Patties in Port Royal, called Brown, “One of a kind, that’s for sure.”

Borreggine said Brown could change the way his friends and colleagues looked at the path ahead. He had the ability, Borreggine said, to turn bad days into good days, and his enthusiasm could not be missed. “How ya doin’ darlins’!” Brown would say in his booming voice when he walked into a restaurant.

One example encapsulates the kind of person Brown was to Borreggine. It occurred when Borreggine was in the process of adopting a newborn child in Las Vegas. Borreggine sent pictures to Brown who was back home in Beaufort. When Borreggine returned home, he went to see Brown at his catering business. Brown had displayed several blown up photos of Borreggine’s adopted daughter behind the register.

“That’s the kind of guy he was,” Borreggine said. “He celebrated other people’s success.”

Brown’s own children — Stephanie, Kelsey, Mitchell and Steven Wade — and granddaughters Elise and Genevi meant everything to him, said Jean, his wife.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, it was Kelsey who encouraged Brown to share his wit and warmth on social media. That’s when Brown, who took on the persona of the “Low Country Chef,” used Facebook to teach the world how to make Southern desserts and delicacies such as shrimp burgers, Lowcountry peach cobbler and sweet potato biscuits. “Good evening everybody!” he would exclaim in his welcoming South Carolina accent.

“It actually – I believe – got people through COVID,” said Nan Brown Sutton, Brown’s sister. “Steve had a huge personality so it was perfect. Steve Brown was larger than life.”

Photography, not food, was Brown’s first love. He studied at Rochester Institute of Technology and became an award-winning photographer. For a few years, he joined his father, Ned, at a photography business called Ned Brown and Son Photography. But Brown eventually transitioned into the food business.

After he closed the catering business, Brown launched Steve Brown Cookies. The gourmet goodies were ordered on online and picked up locally or shipped anywhere in the country.

Brown was known for giving out cookies, maybe more than he sold. Once, when he got stuck on the Woods Memorial Bridge, the city’s swing bridge that pauses traffic to allow boats to pass, “Steve got out of his van and passed out Steve Brown cookies to everybody sitting on the bridge,” Brown Sutton recalled with a laugh. “That’s how generous he was.”

Brown’s faith was a big part of his life and he attended Baptist Church of Beaufort, where he pushed others at Bible study to dive deeper into scripture. In a 2009 interview with the Beaufort Gazette and Island Packet, he quoted the well-known Bible passage, “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” when talking about his philosophy in life.

“If we hear there’s a problem — someone’s homeless, somebody lost their home in a fire, a death in the family or some tragic circumstance — and we can help, we’ll be there,” Brown said at the time. “The end result is taking care of people.”