John Y. Brown, former Kentucky governor and Kentucky Fried Chicken owner, dies

Former Kentucky Gov. John Y. Brown, who built Kentucky Fried Chicken into a worldwide fast-food power then pledged to run the state as a business, has died at age 88.

Brown’s children confirmed his passing on Tuesday, adding that he died due to a series of health problems that stemmed from COVID-19 complications which began this summer. He was in the ICU in Lexington for three weeks before his passing, they said.

Brown, a Democrat, served as governor of Kentucky from December 1979 to December 1983.

At the time he was married to Phyllis George, a former Miss America, and the Browns made for a glamorous political couple. They divorced in 1998 and Brown subsequently married and divorced former Mrs. Kentucky Jill Roach.

In a statement, Brown’s children wrote that “his positive attitude and zest for life was unrivaled and allowed him to beat the odds many times over.”

“Every day was an exciting adventure for (Brown). He was a true Kentucky original who beamed with pride for his home state and its people. He had many prominent accomplishments, but most of all he loved his family with all of his heart and we in turn loved him with all of our hearts,” they wrote. “We are heartbroken by his passing, but find comfort in what he wrote in one of his final days, ‘I have never been so happy.’”

Gov. Andy Beshear marked Brown’s passing by heaping praise on him.

“Gov. Brown was a remarkable leader who was committed to serving the people of Kentucky. He made our commonwealth a better place,” Beshear said in a statement.

The details of funeral arrangements have not been fully confirmed, but three of Brown’s children said that a service and visitation will take place at the state Capitol rotunda next week.

Built Kentucky Fried Chicken into world’s biggest chain

Born in Lexington, Brown was the son of former U.S. Rep. John Y. Brown Sr., who also served as Speaker of the Kentucky House and a member of the state legislature for more than 30 years.

A gifted high school athlete and a born salesman, Brown achieved early success selling vacuum cleaners and encyclopedias even before graduating from the University of Kentucky with bachelor’s and law degrees.

He went into his father’s law practice and served as legal counsel to football player Paul Hornung when Hornung was suspended for the 1963 season for gambling.

In the 1960s Brown was an early investor in fast food. He met Harland Sanders in 1963 and, with Jack C. Massey, purchased Kentucky Fried Chicken in 1964 for $2 million. He built it into the world’s largest fast-food chain before selling in 1971 for $284 million.

His other restaurant ventures included purchasing the Lum’s restaurant chain, started the Ollie’s Trolley take-out burger chain, John Y.’s Chicken and Kenny Rogers Roasters.

Brown also dabbled in professional basketball teams, owning part or all of the Buffalo Braves, the Boston Celtics and the Kentucky Colonels, which folded.

John Y. Brown invented carryout chicken, made Ky. the ‘Silicon Valley’ of restaurants

Entering politics

He sold his interest in the Celtics in 1979, the same year he married former Miss America and CBS sportscaster Phyllis George. He interrupted their honeymoon to announce his candidacy for governor, funding the campaign largely from his own fortune. He promised to run the state like a business and be its top salesman.

The pitch worked and he won the primary, later defeating former Republican Gov. Louie B. Nunn in the general election by a wide margin.

Al Cross, longtime Kentucky political journalist and director of Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues said that Brown’s victory in the late ‘70s could have proved a saving grace for Kentucky Democrats.

“It could be argued that Brown saved the Kentucky Democratic Party from itself. In 1979 the KDP painted itself in a corner and the Carroll administration was viewed as corrupt… Brown comes in and has money, celebrity, and a fresh approach. I think if Brown had not won that primary, Louie Nunn would have probably beat whatever Democrat came out of that primary because the trend at the time was Republican. We might have seen a string of Republican governors in this state much earlier,” Cross said.

Former Democratic attorney general and U.S. Congressman Ben Chandler called Brown “one of our best-known and most colorful Kentuckians.”

“He was unusual in the breadth of his impact which was national in scope. He was the most prominent member of a special, public service oriented, Kentucky family. His legacy will live on in his very capable and public spirited children who will continue to make a positive impact on their fellow citizens,” Chandler said.

Former governor Paul Patton partially credits Brown for his rise among Kentucky Democrats. It started with a call from Brown at 3 a.m. where Brown asked him to join statewide party leadership.

Patton also praised Brown’s public speaking ability, recalling a moment in Washington where Brown, with no notes and no idea of what his speech was supposed to be about, regaled the Democratic National Committee.

“It was a completely impromptu, off the cuff speech to the DNC. And it was well-received,” Patton said.

Saving Governor’s Mansion

As governor and first lady, Brown and Phyllis George helped to renovate the historic Governor’s Mansion in Frankfort, which had fallen into disrepair and was deemed too unsafe to use.

Phyllis George, who died in May 2020, spearheaded a group to raise private funds to offset the costs while Brown donated his first year’s salary to the project. He also waived his salary for the remainder of his term. The renovation was completed in March 1983 and the family moved in in April.

Tenure as governor

As governor, Brown appointed many fellow business leaders to his cabinet, including appointing Frank Metts as secretary of transportation. Metts announced that road contracts would be awarded not as political favors but rather on competitive bids and performance.

Cross said that the attitude extended to Brown’s entire cabinet in potential contrast to his predecessor Julian Carroll’s administration.

“This was not a patronage administration like almost all of those before it, and people welcomed it… Brown just didn’t like the glad-handing,” Cross said.

To cut costs during the recession, Brown sold off most of the state’s fleet of government airplanes, cut the state budget, reduced the number of state employees and put more state services up for competitive bidding to save money.

He also opened communications with Japan, which helped pave the way for his lieutenant governor, Martha Layne Collins, to recruit Toyota to Kentucky when she succeeded him as governor. Collins had lots of practice: Because Brown was frequently out of the state, Collins served as acting governor for more than 500 days during his term.

Brown also took relatively little interest in the state legislature, which led to the shift in the balance of power that has continued to influence state government.

In 1982, Brown was hospitalized for weeks with heart issues, at times comatose, a situation that his office attempted to conceal.

In 1984, Brown made a brief bid for a U.S. Senate seat but withdrew after six weeks, citing health issues.

In 1987, he ran again for governor, entering the field unusually late. Fellow Democratic candidate Lt. Gov. Steve Beshear met Brown on the Capitol steps as he came into file his papers and challenged Brown to an impromptu debate but Brown declined. The two fought hard in the primary, which opened the door for newcomer Wallace Wilkinson to win.

After leaving politics, Brown focused again on restaurants, including helping his wife launch the Chicken By George line for grocery stores. They eventually divorced in 1998.

He launched another chain with actress Suzanne Somers, a meal prep store called Suzanne’s Kitchen, with the first location in Tates Creek Center in Lexington. But it failed after less than a year and Brown and Somers were sued by an investor. The case was dismissed.

Bitterness persisted between Brown and Steve Beshear, who was elected governor in 2007. Brown refused to serve on the inaugural committee. But when Beshear was re-elected in 2011, he agreed to serve as an honorary co-chair of the inauguration committee along with the other former Democratic governors.

The elder Beshear addressed this in a statement posted on Tuesday, touting Brown’s keen salesmanship abilities and noting that he and Brown would later develop a “warm and personal friendship.”

“We have lost one of Kentucky’s most unique and interesting individuals with the passing of Gov. John Y. Brown Jr.,” Beshear wrote. “... While Gov. Brown and I were political rivals at times, Jane and I developed a warm and personal friendship with John Y. and his family in later years, and we will miss him.”

John Y. Brown III, one of Brown Jr.’s who served as Kentucky Secretary of State in the late ‘90s and early ‘00s, said that his father and Steve Beshear ultimately got along very well in the past decade. He said that Brown Jr. recently called Beshear “the greatest governor in (his) lifetime.”

Brown was named to the University of Kentucky College of Law Alumni Association Hall of Fame, in part for his efforts in establishing the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging.

A family man

Brown had five children, including three children with his first wife, Eleanor Durall: John Y. Brown III, Eleanor Faris and Sandra Bennett.

With Phyllis George, he had two children: Lincoln Tyler George Brown and Pamela Ashley Brown, has been a correspondent on CNN.

In an interview with the Herald-Leader, Pamela, Lincoln and John Y. Brown III all remarked that their father’s penchant for positivity made him a great politician, business leader and father.

A strong adherent of Norman Vincent Peale’s “The Power of Positive Thinking,” Brown’s attitude extended all the way up to his final moments, even when he was put on a ventilator.

“The doctors would come in and he’d start kicking his legs to them he was exercising. He punched the the air like he was doing boxing, you know... trying to show them that he’s okay to go off the ventilator,” Lincoln Brown recalled. He said positivity was “deeply wired” into his father’s persona.

John Y. Brown III said that it gave him a “disarming charm,” and that the former governor would always challenge his children to improve and face the world with an attitude similar to his own.

“At times I wanted to feel cynical and feel sorry for myself, but he was just never having any of that,” Brown III said. “He’d always push us to just look on the bright side, keep pushing through, and think how much we had to be grateful for.”

Pamela said that in recent years, after she became the host of a weekend show on CNN, Brown would call and give her feedback.

“He’d oftentimes go back and watch it two or three times just to make sure he was giving me the right feedback,” Pamela Brown said.

What struck them all were some of Brown’s last words, scribbled out on a board in the hospital room a few days before his death.

“I’ve never been so happy,” he wrote.

John Y. Brown invented carryout chicken, made Ky. the ‘Silicon Valley’ of restaurants

John Y. Brown Jr. played a big, often colorful, role in Kentucky sports