Dana Brown was born in West Virginia in 1905. The eleventh of twelve children, Brown left home as a teenager and traveled across America. Brown found work in a variety of manual labor jobs on the railroad and as a ranch hand before settling as a Fuller Brush salesman. By 1946 Brown was living in St. Louis and working for the General Grocer Co. In 1950, Manhattan Coffee was established as a division of General Grocer, and Dana Brown became linked with the product that would help earn his fortune.

Brown’s need to travel did not diminish with time and he went on a series of journeys and safaris, trips he documented with film and audio recordings. From 1954 to 1990, Brown went on over 35 trips to destinations such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nepal, Sumatra, India, Angola, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Zambia, Vietnam, and many other places.

As time went on, Brown incorporated footage from his journeys into commercials and nature films. The footage gave viewers a glimpse of amazing landscapes and animals and included a mention of Safari coffee. Manhattan Coffee was eventually bought by Nestle and Brown moved on to sell Safari coffee under his own coffee company.

Brown’s entrepreneurial success enabled his philanthropy and he gave a $10,000 gift to Children’s Hospital in St. Louis in 1985. The Dana Brown Charitable Trust, established October 21, 1994, at Brown’s passing, continues to pursue charitable works.