Peter S. Browne
Peter S. Browne, a long time Florida resident, passed away on Sunday, March 8, 2020.
Peter lived an amazing life. Born October 27, 1946 in Santa Barbara CA, where he grew up. He went to Santa Barbara High School, surfed Hammonds Beach and enjoyed classic cars.
He married his first wife right out of high school and had two children. In 1974, he married his second wife, Cheryl, who was with him to the end.
Peter and Cheri moved to El Jebel, Colorado in 1975 and lived there for a few years before making their way to Ft. Lauderdale Florida to fulfill a dream of sailing the world.
There they bought their first sailboat, the Cybele, a 30’ Tahiti Ketch. They moved the Cybele to Madeira Beach Florida and Peter spent the next several years rebuilding her. Peter won 3rd place at the Tampa Florida Antique Boat Show in February 1985.
Later that year, the Cybele was sold, and they bought a newly built 40’ cutter in Boston, MA. They christened her the Georgiana K in honor of Peter’s mother. After discovering the boat was not as sound as they thought, Peter spent another several years stripping down to the hull and rebuilding her.
Between the two boats, they got the opportunity to sail to Cuba, the Cayman Islands and other destinations.
In 1992, Peter and Cheri connected with Morgan Sanger, the founder of the Columbus Foundation.
Peter got his captains license and skippered the Nina for several years taking her up and down the east coast and even up the Mississippi into the Great Lakes. After Peter retired from the Nina, Morgan reached out in 1996 asking him to take her from Brownsville TX through the Panama Canal to San Diego.
Peter, also, worked in his trade as a new construction plumber throughout the years. He worked on several of the large hospitals in the St Petersburg area as well as spending a year in the Bahamas working on the Atlantis Hotel.
In 2018, Peter was diagnosed with cancer and spent the last 18 months in treatment. He is survived by his wife of 45 years, Cheryl, his daughter Natalie, his son Daniel, two granddaughters and 4 great-grandchildren. Peter was much loved and will be greatly missed.