Born in Creston, Iowa on February 13, 1894, Lewis Harold Brown became a passionate and highly respected industrialist. He attended the University of Iowa in 1915.

Lewis H. Brown served in France as an infantry captain during World War I. After the war, Brown worked for Montgomery Ward and was promoted to Assistant General Operating Manager in only eight years.

At age 35, Lewis H. Brown left Montgomery Ward and became the youngest man ever to become chairman of the Johns-Manville Corporation, an asbestos manufacturer in the United States.

On April 3, 1939, Lewis H. Brown was featured on the cover of Time Magazine, with the caption "Businessman Brown -- Public Relations Begins at Home."

During World War II, Lewis H. Brown served as an advisor to General Levin Campbell.

After World War II, at the request of General Lucius D. Clay, Lewis H. Brown wrote a book entitled "A Report on Germany" (Farrar, Straus and Company, New York, 1947), which served as a detailed recommendation for the reconstruction of post-war Germany, and served as a basis for the Marshall Plan. General Clay selected Lewis H. Brown to write "A Report on Germany" because of Brown's broad industrial and war experience.

Lewis H. Brown founded the American Enterprise Institute ("AEI"), a think tank in Washington, DC. Lewis H. Brown also co-founded Tax Foundation, and served as Chairman.

Lewis H. Brown passed away in 1951 at age 57, in Delray, Florida.