Former Ralphs, WAFC Executive Brown Dies

ARCADIA, Calif. — Funeral services were pending at the weekend for Jim Brown, who spent 50 years with Ralphs Grocery Co. and 11 years at the Western Association of Food Chains.

Brown died Friday just eight days short of his 82nd birthday. Survivors include his wife, Janet, four children, and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Brown joined Ralphs in 1943 as a box boy; by the time he retired in 1993, he was senior vice president, store operations. He subsequently served as executive vice president of the WAFC until his retirement in 2004.

Carole Christianson, who succeeded him at WAFC, called Brown “extremely humble and a man of great integrity for whom people were always his first priority.”

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