News Release


UM SPH Professor Emeritus Robert Bowman dies at age 89.

January 23, 2004 press release from the University of Michigan School of Public Health.

Robert A. Bowman, professor emeritus of health behavior and health education, died January 15, 2004, in Racine,Wisconsin, at age 89. He was born in Racine in 1914 and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1937. He went on to earn a master’s degree from Marquette University and a second master’s as well as his PhD from the University of Michigan.

In 1949, following an early career as a biology teacher and head of the science department at Cudahy High School, Wisconsin, and as a consultant in health education in central Michigan, Bowman joined the faculty of the UM School of Public Health. He retired in 1980. During his three decades at SPH, he served as assistant to the dean and secretary of the faculty for 10 years, and was a consultant in health education to several state and national organizations, among them the Indian Health Service and the Migrant Health Branch of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and the American Cancer Society of Michigan. He also directed research programs in health education for the Cancer Control Program and the Migrant Health Program of the U.S. Public Health Service.

Bowman played a key role in the education of over 750 SPH students who went on to hold positions of leadership throughout the world at every level of government, in voluntary health agencies, and in the World Health Organization. Students valued Bowman as a good listener and a sage counselor and mentor.

“Bob was one of the early specialists in health education media and materials, and he developed a state-of-the-art media laboratory in the school,” said Scott Simonds, professor emeritus of health behavior and health education and a former colleague of Bowman. “His work had particular relevance for students abroad, who were just launching the field of health education in their respective countries.”

A member of several state and national organizations, Bowman served as president of the Michigan Public Health Association and president of the Great Lakes Chapter of the Society for Public Health Education. He held various offices in the American Public Health Association, and for several years was editor of Health Education Monographs, a leading health education journal.

Among his many honors and awards, Bowman was named a Distinguished Fellow of the Society of Public Health Education, a Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, and an Honorary Life Member of the Michigan Public Health Association, and was inducted into the Washington Park (Wisconsin) High School Hall of Fame.

Bowman’s wife, the former Helen Elizabeth Schneider, died in 1995. He is survived by his sister-in-law, Marjorie Bowman; three nieces and seven nephews, and numerous cousins.

Contact: Terri Mellow, Director, Office of Communications
Phone: (734) 764-8094
E-mail: twm@umich.edu

© 2004 The Regents of the University of Michigan
Updated January 23, 2004