(1928-2005)
Staff, "Gerard McGowan, stock broker, community leader June 6, 1928-December 10, 2005," The Buffalo News, Dec. 11, 2005. https://buffalonews.com/news/article_13888744-0896-5cf9-acef-bfa50c5356ce.html
Gerard F. McGowan, stock broker, community leader and a champion rower, died Saturday in the Center for Hospice & Palliative Care in Cheektowaga after a long struggle with cancer. He was 77.
The youngest of 11 children born to an immigrant from Ireland, Mr. McGowan was a multitalented businessman, artist and botanist. Among his many community interests was the West Side Rowing Club, where he rowed as a member of the Lafayette High School crew.
"Jerry, as head of the Buffalo Rotary Club, was responsible for the largest single gift the club received in its reconstruction program after the fire," said William J. Cotter, longtime club president. "His interest in the club never flagged, often visiting the club to encourage young rowers."
As an athlete, Mr. McGowan won five U.S. heavyweight men's championships and rowed with four crews that won the coveted Hanlan Trophy, awarded to the championship men's heavyweight eight at the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta, St. Catharines, Ont."
He received a bachelor of fine arts degree from Buffalo State College and master of fine arts from Columbia University. Early in his business career, Mr. McGowan was the upstate division traffic manager for New York Telephone Company. He retired from Trubee Collins & Co., where he was a partner, in 2000.
Mr. McGowan served three terms as president of Cradle Beach Camp and was president of the Buffalo Bond Club and the Buffalo State College Foundation. He helped coordinate local auditions for the Metropolitan Opera and was on the allocations committee of United Way of Buffalo & Erie County.
In retirement, Mr. McGowan found time to renew his skills as an artist, specializing in dye-and-resist painting on silk. His works were shown at the Buffalo Arts Studio, and his prints are in private collections in Palm Beach and Sarasota, Fla., Atlanta, New York City and Buffalo.
Mr. McGowan studied at the Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota, the Chautauqua Institution and the Albright-Knox Art School.
At the family's Grey Grove Farm in Ridgeway, Ont., Mr. McGowan developed a strain of giant pumpkins, some weighing nearly 400 pounds. His pumpkins won the competition at the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto in 1990 and 1992.
He served in the Army in the Panama Canal Zone during the Korean War. Among his other memberships were the Buffalo Canoe Club, Longboat Key, Fla., Center for Arts, the Newman Center, and the World Pumpkin Confederation.
Surviving are his wife of 43 years, Claire Marie Miller; two daughters, Claire Kelly of New York City and Susan M. Powell of Buffalo; two sons, Edwin M. of Buffalo and Gerard A. of Fort Montgomery; two sisters, Anne M. Moore of Buffalo and Mary M. Naples of Buffalo; a brother, James of Buffalo; and five grandchildren.
Prayers will be said at 9:15 Tuesday in Amigone Funeral Home, 1132 Delaware Ave., followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 10 a.m. in Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, 1035 Delaware Ave. Burial will be private.