Robert W. Rowley 330th Regiment 83rd Infantry Division

Article published Saturday, August 2, 2008 ROBERT W. ROWLEY, 1920-2008 Longtime lawyer helped set up legal services for needy Robert W. Rowley, 87, a longtime Toledo lawyer and a former chairman of the Lucas County Republican Party who was a leader in statewide efforts to provide free legal services to low-income people, died Thursday in the Hospice of Northwest Ohio, Perrysburg Township, of liver cancer. Mr. Rowley of Perrysburg Township retired in 1999 from his general law practice. In later years, he focused on wills and estate planning. A former president of the Toledo Bar Association, he received the Distinguished Toledo Lawyer Award in 1994 from the University of Toledo Alumni Association. In 1995, the Ohio Bar Association honored him for his work in setting up legal services for the poor. He was recognized in the 1990s for his pro bono work from the Ohio School Boards Association. The General Assembly approved a resolution, sponsored by then-State Rep. Jack Ford (D., Toledo), congratulating him. Mr. Rowley "felt that each of us ought to be finding ways to help those who might be less fortunate," his son Robert W. Rowley, Jr., said. He had mentors early in his career, and he made a point of giving young colleagues a hand. His son met some of them in social settings. "They'd eventually corner me and say, 'Your dad really mentored me and helped me get started,'•" his son recalled. "He felt he'd been given some help, and that set an example of how he should conduct his life." Mr. Rowley was an assistant city law director in the early 1950s and, in the late 1970s, was a Toledo Municipal Court traffic referee. He was named head of the county Republican Party in April, 1972, succeeding the late Maj. Gen. Walter A. Churchill. Citing his practice demands, he resigned in June, 1973. He was a candidate for office twice, albeit unsuccessfully: in 1954, for state representative and, in 1956, for Toledo City Council. Mr. Rowley was a 1938 graduate of Scott High School. He received a bachelor's degree in 1942 from the University of Toledo. An Army veteran of World War II, he was in the 330th Infantry Regiment of the 83rd Infantry Division in Europe. He received a Bronze Star and five campaign stars. He was a 1948 graduate of Ohio State University law school. He liked to golf and was a member of the Toledo Country Club and a former member of Heather Downs Country Club. His marriage to the former Jeanne Hackbarth ended in divorce. He was preceded in death by wives Ann Rowley and Lynne Rowley. Surviving are his wife, Denise "Dolly" Tinney-Rowley, whom he married May 22, 1992; sons, Robert W., Jr., and John Rowley; daughter, Anne Pedersen; stepdaughters, Deborah Knight, Sally Pierce, Jacquelyn O'Bryant, and Nancy Phillips; seven grandchildren; 14 step-grandchildren, and many great-grandchildren. There will be no visitation. Memorial services will be at 11 a.m. Monday in First Congregational Church, Toledo. Arrangements are by the Witzler-Shank Funeral Home, Perrysburg. The family suggests tributes to the church or the Hospice of Northwest Ohio.

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