Obituary: Vita Leo Brown

Vita Leo Brown lived her life to the fullest. She met challenges dealt to her in her own way, in her own time.

The baby who was told she would be confined to an institution instead went to college, traveled in Italy and Israel, was on the board of Relay for Life at Georgia State, and worked at the Midtown Art Cinema. She was bat mitzvahed and read from the Torah.

She was born with Noonan’s syndrome and survived liver cancer and five major operations. She danced at the Decatur School of Ballet, was on the Renfroe cheerleading squad and went to California twice with the Decatur High School news team. Vita was a lifetime baseball fan. She went to her first game when she was 2 and went to Braves games for the last 22 years. She was an avid reader, especially of the Harry Potter series.

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She loved her family — her extended family, her cousins, aunts and uncles. She was very close to her grandparents. She had close friends from kindergarten through college. She received a B.A. in film and photography, maintaining the HOPE Scholarship throughout. She was a videographer and photographer and worked freelance. She interned at the Atlanta Community Food Bank for two summers and interned at Atlanta Video. She was a member of Congregation Bet Haverim and a recipient of the Eddie Cohen Award.

She is survived by her parents, Anna Leo and Robert Brown, and a grandmother, Irene Brown. Sign the online guestbook at www.edressler.com. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the ALS Association, Gift Processing Center, P.O. Box 6051, Albert Lea, MN 56007 (alsa.org), or No Kid Hungry, P.O. Box 75475, Baltimore, MD 21275-5475 (nokidhungry.org). A private graveside service was held. A memorial service will be held in the Cannon Chapel of Emory University, 515 Kilgo Circle, Atlanta, on Sunday, April 24, at 3 p.m. with Rabbi Joshua Lesser officiating. Arrangements by Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care, 770-451-4999.