Val Allen Browning (August 20, 1895 – May 16, 1994) was an American industrialist, philanthropist and third-generation gunmaker. His grandfather, Jonathan Browning, opened a gun shop in Ogden, Utah in 1852, and his father, John Browning, is regarded as one of the most successful firearms designers of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Life

Born in Ogden,

Utah Territory The Territory of Utah was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 4, 1896, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Utah, the 45th state ...

, Browning graduated from

Ogden High School Ogden High School is an Art Deco secondary school located in Ogden, Utah, educating students in grades 10–12. Operated by the Ogden City School District, Ogden High enrolls approximately 1,250 students each year. The graduation rate has increa ...

in 1913 and later studied law and engineering at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

. As a young man he worked in the shop his grandfather had opened. In 1918, Browning was commissioned as a second lieutenant with the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

and served with the 79th Infantry Division at

Verdun Verdun (, , , ; official name before 1970 ''Verdun-sur-Meuse'') is a large city in the Meuse department in Grand Est, northeastern France. It is an arrondissement of the department. Verdun is the biggest city in Meuse, although the capital ...

during World War I. In 1920, he became the manager of the manufacturing of John Browning guns in Liège,

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, and served as his father's personal representative to

Fabrique Nationale de Herstal Fabrique Nationale Herstal (), trading as FN Herstal and often referred to as Fabrique Nationale or simply FN, is a leading firearms manufacturer based in Herstal, Belgium. It is currently the largest exporter of military small arms in Europe. ...

. 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 The Superposed introduced a wide variety of innovations including the single select trigger and over-under design. This design was considered revolutionary in the 1930s, but it was later found that Browning had already made a model of this design ...

shotgun and the Browning Hi-Power pistol (GP-35) (the latter in cooperation with his father's Belgian assistant,

Dieudonné Saive Dieudonné Joseph Saive (; 23 May 1888 – 12 October 1970) was a Belgian small arms designer who designed several well-known firearms for Belgian armsmaker Fabrique Nationale, including the Model 1949 and the FAL (''Fusil Automatique Leger'' o ...

). In 1924, Browning married Ann Chaffin (1901–1975) of

Farmington, Utah Farmington is a city in Davis County, Utah, United States. The population was 24,531 at the 2020 census. The Lagoon Amusement Park and Station Park transit-oriented retail center (which includes a FrontRunner train station) are located in Far ...

, and they had four children. They lived in

until 1935 when Browning returned to

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

as president of Browning Arms Company. Browning received 48 gun patents during his career, compared to his father John Browning's 128 American gun patents. In 1955, Val Browning was awarded Knighthood in the

Order of Léopold The Order of Leopold ( nl, Leopoldsorde, french: Ordre de Léopold, ) is one of the three current Belgian national honorary orders of knighthood. It is the oldest and highest order of Belgium and is named in honour of its founder, King Leo ...

King Baudouin Baudouin (;, ; nl, Boudewijn Albert Karel Leopold Axel Maria Gustaaf, ; german: Balduin Albrecht Karl Leopold Axel Maria Gustav. 7 September 1930 – 31 July 1993), Dutch name Boudewijn, was King of the Belgians from 17 July 1951 until his dea ...

for an "outstanding contribution to the Gun Making Art;" an honor that had been bestowed upon his father in 1914. 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 The Amalgamated Sugar Company is an American sugar beet-refining company run on a cooperative basis. It was founded in 1897 in Ogden, Utah, and is now located in Boise, Idaho. The company markets its sugar under the White Satin brand. Founding ...

, and the Mountain Fuel Supply Company. Through the 1940s purchase of some of W. L. Wattis' of founding shares in Utah Construction Company, Browning shared in the substantial gains in the sale of Utah International. Browning was a benefactor of Dixie College and

Weber State University Weber State University (pronounced ) is a public university in Ogden, Utah. It was founded in 1889 as Weber Stake Academy. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. History Weber State University was founded ...

, and his donation of his substantial collection of European fine art formed the basis of the

Utah Museum of Fine Arts The Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA) is the region's primary resource for culture and visual arts. It is located in the Marcia and John Price Museum Building in Salt Lake City, Utah on the University of Utah campus near Rice-Eccles Stadium. Works ...

masterwork paintings. Browning died May 16, 1994, and was buried at Lindquist Washington Heights Memorial Park in Ogden Utah. He was a member of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...

Notes

References

* Schwing, Neil. The Browning Superposed, John M. Browning's Last Legacy.

External links

Val A. Browning Center

Utah Museum of Fine Arts

Obituary of son
John Val Browning - '' Deseret News'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Browning, Val A. 1895 births 1994 deaths Cornell University College of Engineering alumni Utah Tech University people Firearm designers Businesspeople from Ogden, Utah Businesspeople from Utah Weber State University people Latter Day Saints from Utah United States Army officers United States Army personnel of World War I Cornell Law School alumni 20th-century American inventors 20th-century American philanthropists 20th-century American businesspeople Military personnel from Utah