A Legacy Life

Buddy Brown (11/23/51 – 3/31/17)

Buddy Brown was many things to many people. First and foremost, he was a God serving family man; a loving husband to Cathy Brown for 38 years; a caring father to Jennifer, Matt, and Joey; and a fun-loving Pop to Peyton, Logan, Lilly, Andrew, Benny, and now little Buddy.

He began his career in sales in the recorded music industry in the 70’s. He and his wife Cathy, met in 1978, fell in love, and got married 6 months later. They lived and cruised on a 35-foot sailboat with daughter Jennifer for a year before beginning their own dive business in Islamorada, FL (Buddy’s Dive Shop) with friend, John Riddick. Buddy’s Dive Shop became one of the premier dive operations in the upper Key’s during the 80’s. Buddy and Cathy along with friends Bob and Deb Guenther were the first to dive a wreck off of Islamorada and it subsequently became known as the “Cannabis Cruiser.” This dive site really put Buddy’s Dive Shop on the map! During this time, he also became involved in several businesses in Grand Cayman, (Coconut Harbor Resort, Treasure Island Divers, and a live-aboard yacht called The Gulfstream).

In the late 80’s he sold Buddy’s Dive Shop and moved his family to Conyers, GA to be closer to his parents. At this time, he started an independent Rep agency (Aquatic Sales) with Cathy (who is the glue of Aquatic Sales doing much of the behind the scenes work and keeping the family business in line) and the rest is history. Aquatic Sales grew through the years and Buddy added industry veteran Ed Moggio to the team in the mid 90’s. In 2006, his son Matt came to work with him and he could not have been happier to expand the family business. Joey started with Aquatic Sales in 2007, as the business continued to grow. In 2014, Jennifer came on board with Aquatic Sales in the South Florida region. He looked at the experience of being able to work with his wife and all of his kids as one of his greatest achievements. Cathy, Jennifer, and Joey are blessed to have learned so much from him to carry his legacy forward in the dive / watersports business.

Buddy has been referred to by many as an icon in the dive industry and will be sorely missed by everyone he has come into contact with. His favorite sales pitch to non-divers was “we only get to see 1/3 of Gods beautiful creation topside, the other 2/3 is below the surface, so you have to go diving!”

For more information on Aquatic Sales visit: http://www.aquatic-sales.com/about/