Campbellsburg
Campbellsburg, KY · Arts & Culture
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The Courier Journal
Laura Lee Brown, Kentucky philanthropist, bourbon heiress, dies
Laura Lee Brown, an heiress to spirits giant Brown-Forman and a renowned philanthropist who for decades poured into the Kentucky arts and conservation scene, died Nov. 10 at Woodland Farm in Goshen. She was 85 years old. The great granddaughter of George Garvin Brown, the founder of Brown-Forman , Brown built her legacy around an impassioned love for the arts and the environment. Brown was able to blend her love for these into two entrepreneurial ventures with her husband Steve Wilson – the 21c Museum Hotel chain and Hermitage Farm – which have had transformational impact on the Louisville metro area and beyond. In 2023, Brown was awarded the Distinguished Alumna Award from her alma mater Sweet Briar College in Virginia for her "outstanding accomplishments in a professional or volunteer capacity." At the time of receiving the award, Brown credited the college, which she graduated from in 1963, as a molding force behind learning how to courageously speak up to defend the causes she believes in. Brown is remembered as a bold person who dared to champion the underappreciated beauties in life. Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said in a Nov. 11 post on X that for the past 25 years,
