Jeffrey H. Bowman

Jeffrey H. Bowman, a beloved legal scholar, author, and lifelong advocate for transparency and fairness in elections, passed away peacefully, surrounded by family, on Sunday, February 15, 2026, after a courageous and dignified battle with a long illness, aged 71.

To his readers and colleagues, he was a formidable intellect and a true bipartisan consensus builder, who sought always to find opportunities for understanding and common ground. A proud graduate of the University of Wisconsin at La-Crosse (1976) and The George Washington University Law School (1979), Jeffrey made several contributions to legal scholarship on constitutional law, notably including the book “Death by Installments” in 1988. That book, critically acclaimed upon publication as “legal history on an award-winning scale,” examined the failures of the U.S. justice system in the case of Willie Francis - an African American teenager who was convicted of murder in 1940s Louisiana at 16 and sent to the electric chair twice by the time he was 18. Jeffrey worked tirelessly to create what remains the definitive historical record of that case and committed himself to learning and telling difficult and important truths about racism and injustice in the United States.

After graduating from law school, Jeffrey spent the next three decades applying his same passion for justice to our nation’s elections laws, as an assistant general counsel in the General Counsel’s Office, and later senior counsel to Commissioner Scott Thomas, of the Federal Election Commission. In that role, Jeffrey was an architect and author of, and advocate for, many of what remain our country’s most important legal protections regarding transparency and fairness in federal campaign finance. He worked side-by-side with Senators John McCain and Russ Feingold to ultimately pass the McCain-Feingold Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, which placed important limits on “soft money” in political campaigns. During his time at the Federal Election Commission, Jeffrey authored a vast body of legal scholarship that remains highly influential commentary on election and campaign finance law.

To his family and friends, Jeffrey was a beacon of love, warmth, and light. He met his wife, Bonnie Brownell, in law school where they bonded over a shared love of cooking. More accurately, Bonnie loved to cook, and Jeffrey loved to eat. What followed was a bond of love, friendship, and mutual support and understanding that lasted almost 50 years.

His two daughters, Theresa and Caroline, and his granddaughter, Lily, were the joyful centers of his world. In every way that he knew how, Jeffrey taught his girls that their voices, and their dreams, were important. He spent hours marking up grade school papers with the same thoughtfulness and care as any serious piece of scholarship. In his role as editor, coach, and even chief statistician in service of his girls’ many extracurricular athletic, journalistic, and artistic pursuits, he brought the same (if not greater) focused dedication as he did to any professional endeavor. It was the privilege of his life to watch his girls grow up and build their own lives and legal careers, with loving marriages of their own (Christopher and Charles).

Jeffrey laughed easily and loved fiercely. He was a man of great faith, humor, empathy, and joy. A proud son of Wisconsin, Jeffrey loved his Green Bay Packers and managing the family’s Christmas tree farm outside of Cataract, Wisconsin. His memory, and his light, will long remain a blessing to all who were lucky enough to love and be loved by him.

A celebration of Jeffrey’s life will be held at Joseph Gawler’s Sons - 5130 Wisconsin Avenue Northwest Washington, District of Columbia 20016 - on Saturday, March 7, 2026 at 1:00 pm, with a private burial to follow in Wisconsin. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in Jeffrey’s name to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C.*, which gave his beloved granddaughter the opportunity to grow into a beautiful, athletic, brilliant, and kind little girl, who loved her “Grandadu” very much.

*Jeffrey’s Memorial Donation Page is linked above and also available at: https://giving.childrensnational.org/site/TR/FundraisingTR/CommunityTRs2024?pg=personal&px=1892669&fr_id=1422