Alan David Rowe, former radio and television journalist and retired Canadian diplomat, age 85, died peacefully in Oak Bay, British Columbia on August 2nd. Alan was born in Toronto, Ontario on March 19th 1932. He is survived by his beloved wife, Sarah Doughty, his sons Michael and Eric, and his brother and sister-in-law, Dr. and Mrs. Ian Rowe of Mount Hope, Ontario. He is preceded in death by his first wife, Helen Hardt Rowe, who passed away in 2000.
Alan was a 1949 graduate of Toronto’s Ryerson Technical Institute Radio/TV Broadcasting program, which lead, between 1949 and 1958, to a broadcast journalism career across Canada, then to Kingston, Jamaica and Hamilton, Bermuda. In 1954 he met Helen “Penny” Hardt of Dunkirk, New York, a vivacious vacationing schoolteacher. They fell in love while exploring Bermuda on the back of his Vespa scooter. They began their married life together in Hilversum, The Netherlands where he worked as an English language announcer for Radio Nederland while simultaneously freelancing as a foreign correspondent for the CBC and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, covering events as disparate as Expo 57 in Brussels and the Hungarian uprising of 1956, as well as interviewing personalities as diverse as General Lauris Norstad, Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, and film star Sophia Loren. In 1958, on the advice of a senior Canadian diplomat in their social circle, Alan left journalism and returned to North America to pursue higher education as a prelude to a career change. In 1961, he graduated cum laude from Northwestern University, with a degree in Political Science, Economics, and Anthropology. Earning a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, he completed an MA in Political Science at the University of Toronto. He began his career as a Foreign Service Officer in 1962, the same year he and Penny welcomed their first son, Michael. Their second son, Eric, was born in 1963. That year, Alan received his first international posting, to Beirut.
In the years that followed, his diplomatic work would take the family all over the world, including to Havana, Cuba and a United Nations-related post to Geneva, Switzerland. In 1983, with both boys away at university, Alan and Penny embarked on their final posting abroad. He was the Senior Political and Economic Officer at the Canadian Consulate General in Seattle, Washington until 1988, when he took an early retirement. He and Penny moved to Ladysmith, British Columbia and lived there until Penny’s death in 2000. In 2002, Alan and his second wife, Sarah Doughty, moved to Victoria. Alan’s family welcomed Sarah with open arms delighting in the joy she brought Alan, both at home and on their many travels. Together, Alan and Sarah played golf, enjoyed gardening and being members of Probus. Alan’s health began to gently decline in 2012, eventually leading to his peaceful passing on August 2nd.
He will be remembered as a witty, erudite man who spoke several languages, a raconteur, a world traveller, a sophisticated political thinker, and a gentleman who, as Kipling wrote, could “walk with kings [and not] lose the common touch.” Mostly, he is remembered as a loving husband and father, a man who delighted in the accomplishment of his sons, who took great joy in both of his marriages, and cherished the variegated hues of life and the world. A Celebration of Alan’s life will be held on Saturday, August 12th 2017 at 10 am, at The First Memorial Services, 4725 Falaise Drive, Victoria, BC, followed by a reception in the Garden Room. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that a donation be made to your favourite charity in Alan’s name.
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