Stephen Brown

Beware of looking for goals: look for a way of life. Decide how you want to live and then see what you can do to make a living WITHIN that way of life.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Stephen I. Brown, 53, of Bluffton, SC, passed away Monday, June 8, 2026, after a hard-fought battle with cancer. If you knew Steve, you know he’d greet you with a joke, a hug, an offer of a seat, preferably on the porch, or some advice, maybe a drink, and anything else you might need, even if you didn’t know you needed it.

Whether you knew him well or not, he had a story, a joke, or a one-liner at the ready, and everyone who met him laughed with him; there are few finer ways to be remembered.

A lifelong lover of golf, few things made him happier than time on the course. If you met him at a club or on the course, he might not offer advice on your swing, but he’d be happy to talk about the lie, and not just on the green; it was more about being a straight talker, calling it as he saw it, and following his gut, always with an eye, and his heart, on doing the right thing.

Steve kept his friends close and his family even closer, prioritizing them above anything else, and preferring home to nearly any other place. When you know where you belong, you can’t imagine being anywhere else, so he spent a lot of time in his life and in his work as a realtor helping other people find that feeling. He’ll be missed in a lot of spaces, but none like at home.

He is survived by his wife Emily Brown (Suttell), his two children Delaney and Crosby Brown of Bluffton, SC; his mother, Ellen Brown-Lowi of Boynton Beach, FL; his sister, Jen Brown of St. Petersburg, FL; the entire Suttell family: Norman and Rebecca Suttell, Laura Suttell and Dana VanTassel, Joseph and Lisa Suttell, and Allen and Elizabeth Layne as well as his nieces and nephews, Emma and Ryan Suttell and Ella and Turner Layne as well as many other family members and friends. He is predeceased by his father, Edward W. Brown of Plainsboro, NJ.

A celebration of life will take place on the evening of July 10, at Fair Winds in Rose Hill, Bluffton, SC. In lieu of flowers or in Steve’s honor, please make a donation to a local organization he cared a lot about: Self Help Bluffton, 39 Sheridan Park Cir, Ste 10, Bluffton, SC 29910, or online at blufftonselfhelp.org.