Gordon Daniels Brown

On the eve of Good Friday, April 2, 2026, Gordon Daniels Brown passed away
peacefully, leaving behind a life marked by service, leadership, and deep devotion to family and faith.

Gordon was born on February 11, 1939, in Ogden, Utah, to Harold Daniels Brown and Oretta Chugg Brown. He grew up alongside his siblings: older brother Reid, younger sister RaNae, and younger brothers Roger and Craig.

He attended Weber High School, where he competed in football, track, and wrestling, graduating in 1957. He then served as a missionary in the Eastern States Mission. Upon returning home, a high school friendship blossomed into love, and he married Patricia (Pat) Howes of Roy, Utah, on August 25, 1961, in the Salt Lake City Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Gordon began his undergraduate studies at Weber College and earned a B.S. degree from Utah State University. His interest in medicine led him to the University of Utah School of Medicine, where he earned his M.D., followed by an internship at University of Utah Hospital.

During the Vietnam War, Gordon was called into service with the U.S. Public Health Service in San Diego, California. In his second year, he was assigned as the sole physician aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Chase, sailing the waters of Vietnam as a Lieutenant Commander. He frequently traveled by small boat on MedCap missions to provide medical care to Vietnamese civilians — a calling he carried with quiet dedication.

Following his military service, Gordon completed a four-year residency in Interventional Radiology at UCLA Medical Center. He began his practice in Bountiful, Utah, at Lakeview Hospital and later at St. Mark’s Hospital in Salt Lake City. He subsequently joined Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo, where he practiced as an Interventional Radiologist for 32 years. He was a founding member and chairman of the Utah State Medical Association’s Financial Services committee and served as a state counselor to the Radiological Society of North America.

Known to friends and family as “Gordy,” he was widely described as a kind and selfless man. He adored his four children and cherished his role as “Papa” to 16 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, with two more great-grandsons expected in May.

Gordon was a man who knew how to live well and bring others along with him. He was an avid golfer for over 50 years, playing multiple times a week and sharing the fairways with a wide circle of friends — lifelong companions, professional colleagues, neighbors, and fellow church members — including regular golf trips that became traditions of their own. In winter, Wednesdays and Saturdays belonged to the ski slopes; he was an avid skier who raised his children on the mountain and kept at it until his knees finally negotiated a different arrangement. Summer meant Lake Powell, where family boating trips became one of the enduring memories his children carry with them.

He loved working in his yard — a passion with deep roots. His father kept a beautiful orchard and flower gardens, and Gordon carried that same instinct forward in his own home, known for a beautifully manicured lawn and stunning flower beds. Long before that, he had worked maintaining national forest trails after high school, and put himself through medical school in part by fighting wildfires for the national forests — a young man already at home in the outdoors. That love of the land never left him, though in later years it expressed itself more quietly, one questionable tree removal at a time.

Gordon had a gift for savoring the simple rhythms of life. He was always among the first in line at the fruit stands when the season’s best raspberries, tomatoes, corn, and peaches arrived — quality was non-negotiable. And each morning began the same way: with a real newspaper, the kind printed on paper, read with the deliberateness of a man who believed some things shouldn’t be rushed.

At home, he loved to gather people around the table — famous for his waffle breakfasts (characteristically served at dinner) and meals that brought family and friends together with warmth and abundance. He was also known to slip away to Nordstrom and return with a new outfit chosen especially for Pat — a small, recurring gesture that said everything about how he loved her.

Gordon loved the Lord. A devoted member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he spent his life in service to others. He served in three bishoprics, as a BYU bishop, as a BYU Stake President, and as an Aaronic Priesthood leader. He and his wife Pat had the sacred opportunity to serve together as Mission President and companion of the Illinois Chicago Mission (2001–2004) and later at the Provo Missionary Training Center (2011–2013). He loved the scriptures deeply and delighted in offering scripture challenges to his grandchildren and to the missionaries he was so fond of being with.

Gordon believed in remembering those who came before. Each Memorial Day, he and Pat led the family on excursions to visit the graves of their ancestors — with crisp one- dollar bills ready for the grandchildren who could find the headstones first. It was his way of teaching that family doesn’t end with the living.

A lifelong fan of the Utah Utes and Utah State Aggies, his years of service at Brigham Young University eventually made him a loyal BYU Cougar as well. He also cheered faithfully for the Utah Jazz.

Gordon is survived by his beloved wife, V. Patricia (Pat) Howes Brown; their children: Dell and Kristin Brown, Andrea and Kevin Motto, Anthony (Tony) and Sarah Brown, and Matthew Brown and Karen Dursteler; brother Craig and Debbie Brown; and siblings-in-law RaNae Brown, Nell Brown, and Kirk Smith.

He was preceded in death by his parents; and siblings Janet Brown, RaNae Brown Smith, Roger Brown, and Reid Brown.

He will be greatly missed.

Funeral Services:

A viewing will be held Friday, April 10, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Nelson Family Mortuary, 4780 N. University Ave., Provo, UT 84604.

Funeral services will be held Saturday, April 11, at the LDS meetinghouse located at 3050 N. Mojave Lane, Provo, Utah, with a viewing prior to services from 9:30 to 10:30a.m.

Zoom link - https://zoom.us/j/97442824175#success