Obituary: Owsley Brown Frazier, Patron of Louisville Universities

Owsley Brown Frazier, a liquor magnate who raised or donated more than $500-million for the University of Louisville, Bellarmine University, and other educational institutions in his Kentucky hometown, died Thursday at the age of 77 after a long illness, The Courier-Journal reports.

Mr. Frazier was the great-grandson of the distiller who founded Brown-Forman Corp., which produces Jack Daniels, Southern Comfort, and other well-known brands. He joined the firm in 1955 and with his family controlled $1.7-billion in Brown-Forman stock.

A University of Louisville alumnus, Mr. Frazier gave extensively to campus buildings, academics, and athletics. Last December, he gave a $25-million gift—the largest in the university’s history—with no strings attached. Among his other philanthropic causes were historic preservation and low-income housing, and he built a $32-million museum to house a personal collection of guns and other artifacts.