| Order: | United States Ambassador to Austria |
| President: | George W. Bush |
| Term Start: | November 5, 2001 |
| Term End: | October 5, 2005 |
| Predecessor: | Kathryn Walt Hall |
| Successor: | Susan McCaw |
| Birth Name: | William Lee Lyons Brown Jr. |
| Birth Date: | 2 August 1936 |
| Birth Place: | Louisville, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Alma Mater: | University of Virginia |
William Lee Lyons Brown Jr. (August 2, 1936 – June 9, 2024) was an American diplomat who served as the U.S. Ambassador to Austria. He was also the CEO and Honorary Trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Chair of the World Monuments Fund.[1] [2]
Brown was born in Louisville, Kentucky. A graduate of the University of Virginia and the American Graduate School of International Management (now called Thunderbird School of Global Management), he was the president, chairman, CEO, and a director of the Brown-Forman Corporation, founded by his great-grandfather. He served on the President's Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations as an appointee under three Presidents: Ronald Reagan (1988), George H.W. Bush (1990 and 1992) and Bill Clinton (1994).[3]
Brown was made a Chevalier de L'Ordre du Merite Agricole by the French government in 1974.[2] He died on June 9, 2024, at the age of 87.[4]