Val A. Browning
{{short description|American businessman (1895–1994)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2022}}
{{Infobox military person
| birth_name = Val Allen Browning
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1895|8|20}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1994|5|16|1895|8|20}}
| birth_place = Ogden, Utah Territory, U.S.
| death_place = Ogden, Utah, U.S.
| placeofburial =
| image = Val Browning M1918 BAR.jpg
| caption = Lt. Val Browning with the Browning Automatic Rifle
| nickname =
| allegiance = United States
| branch = United States Army
| serviceyears = 1917–1918
| rank = First Lieutenant
| commands =
| unit = 79th Infantry Division
| awards = Order of Leopold
World War I Victory Medal
| battles = World War I
| relations = John M Browning (father)
Jonathan Browning (grandfather)
| laterwork = industrialist, philanthropist, gun manufacturer
}}
Val Allen Browning (August 20, 1895 – May 16, 1994){{cite news | title=Deaths | date=May 19, 1994 | work=Deseret News | location=Salt Lake City, Utah | url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/354038/ | archive-url=https://archive.today/20130121092452/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/354038/ | url-status=dead | archive-date=January 21, 2013 | access-date=October 12, 2009}} was an American industrialist, philanthropist, and third-generation gunmaker. He was president of the Browning Arms Company.
Early life
Browning was born in Ogden, Utah Territory on August 20, 1895. His grandfather, Jonathan Browning, opened a gun shop in Ogden in 1852."By 1900, over 75% of the repeating sporting arms on the United States market, both lever and pump, were of John's invention." [http://files.asme.org/ASMEORG/Communities/History/Landmarks/5508.pdf Browning Firearms Collection] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121120215642/http://files.asme.org/ASMEORG/Communities/History/Landmarks/5508.pdf|date=November 20, 2012}} brochure from The American Society of Mechanical Engineers His father, John Browning, is regarded as one of the most successful firearms designers of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Browning graduated from Ogden High School in 1913 and later studied law and engineering at Cornell University.Gun Digest 2011 by Dan Shideler, Krause Publications, July 14, 2010, p. 91 As a young man he worked in the shop his grandfather had opened.Ogden's Trolley District, by Shalae Larsen, Sue Wilkerson, Arcadia Publishing, 2012, p. 98
In 1918, Browning was commissioned as a second lieutenant with the United States Army and served with the 79th Infantry Division at Verdun during World War I.
Career
In 1920, he became the manager of the manufacturing of John Browning guns in Liège, Belgium, and served as his father's representative to Fabrique Nationale de Herstal. Upon his father's death in 1926, Browning had the responsibility of completing the projects that were not finished by his father, including the Browning Superposed shotgun and the Browning Hi-Power pistol (GP-35) (the latter in cooperation with his father's Belgian assistant, Dieudonné Saive).
In 1935, he returned to Utah as president of Browning Arms Company. Browning received 48 gun patents during his career. In 1955, he was awarded Knighthood in the Order of Léopold by King Baudouin of Belgium for an "outstanding contribution to the Gun Making Art."[https://web.archive.org/web/20160224102528/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/353829/VAL-A-BROWNING-INDUSTRIALIST-AND-PHILANTHROPIST-DIES-AT-98.html VAL A. BROWNING, INDUSTRIALIST AND PHILANTHROPIST, DIES AT 98] Deseret News, May 18, 1994
Browning spent his career representing business interests in the United States and Europe. In addition to chairing Browning Arms, he served as director of the First Security Corporation, Utah International, Amalgamated Sugar Company, and the Mountain Fuel Supply Company. Through the 1940s purchase of some of W. L. Wattis' founding shares in Utah Construction Company, Browning shared in the substantial gains in the sale of Utah International.
Personal life
In 1924, Browning married Ann Chaffin (1901–1975) of Farmington, Utah. They had four children. They lived in Belgium until 1935 when they returned to Utah.
He was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Browning was a benefactor of Dixie College and Weber State University. His substantial collection of European fine art formed the basis of the Utah Museum of Fine Arts masterwork paintings.
Browning died May 16, 1994, and was buried at Lindquist Washington Heights Memorial Park in Ogden, Utah.{{cite web |last1=Douglas |first1=Palmer |title=VAL A. BROWNING, INDUSTRIALIST AND PHILANTHROPIST, DIES AT 98 |url=https://www.deseret.com/1994/5/18/19109514/val-a-browning-industrialist-and-philanthropist-dies-at-98#:~:text=Burial%20will%20be%20at%20Lindquist's,the%20Union%20Station%20Foundation%2C%20Ogden.&text=Get%20all%20the%20news%20that's,world%20news%20that%20you%20value. |website=Deseret News |date=May 18, 1994 |publisher=Deseret News |access-date=September 9, 2022}}
References
{{Reflist}}
= Bibliography =
- Schwing, Neil. The Browning Superposed, John M. Browning's Last Legacy. {{ISBN|0-87341-350-4}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
- [http://www.weber.edu/browningcenter Val A. Browning Center]
- [http://www.umfa.utah.edu Utah Museum of Fine Arts]
- [http://www.legacy.com/DeseretNews/Obituaries.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonId=878736 Obituary of son], John Val Browning - Deseret News
- [https://patents.google.com/patent/US2401903A/en US2401903A – Repeating firearm]
- [https://patents.google.com/patent/US2385057A/en US2385057A – Firing mechanism for repeating firearms]
- [https://patents.google.com/patent/US2341204A/en US2341204A – Sight for firearms]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Browning, Val A.}}
Category:Cornell University College of Engineering alumni
Category:Utah Tech University people
Category:Businesspeople from Ogden, Utah
Category:Businesspeople from Utah
Category:Weber State University people
Category:Latter Day Saints from Utah
Category:United States Army officers
Category:United States Army personnel of World War I
Category:Cornell Law School alumni
Category:20th-century American inventors
Category:20th-century American philanthropists