Friends and colleagues of Donald "Don" Brown, a retired Burbank Police Department lieutenant and airport commissioner who spent more than four decades in service to the city, were mourning his death Friday.
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Brown died on June 8, surrounded by family and his beloved dog Daisy, according to a funeral home obituary. He was 88.
A New York City native who moved to Burbank with his family in 1945, Brown was a 1955 graduate of Burbank High School. He graduated from Riverside College in 1962 and, while working full-time and helping raise four children, went on to earn a teaching credential in administration of justice from USC in the 1970s.
Brown landed his first job with the city, in the Burbank Public Service Department, in 1956.
The police department hired him in 1960, and he worked his way up from patrolman to lieutenant, but relished his time as a traffic bureau motor officer, according to the funeral home.
He retired from the police department in 2001 after 45 years as a city employee, but later that year became a commissioner at Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena (Bob Hope) Airport, a position he held before retiring in 2024.
A wake will be held from 3-6 p.m. on June 29 in the main building at Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles, followed by funeral services at 3 p.m. June 30 at Church of the Hills Forest Lawn.
Brown is survived by his children: Julie, Mike, Terrilyn and Cameron; six grandchildren; and three great grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, Brown's family asks that donations be made in his name to the Boys and Girls Club of Burbank and Greater East Valley, for which Brown was an active volunteer.
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