Robert Bowers, educator, dies at 76

Dr. Robert Lee Bowers, a charter faculty member at J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College in Henrico County, died of a pulmonary embolism Wednesday at an area hospital. The Richmond resident was 76.

A funeral will be held today, Sunday, at 3 p.m. at Bennett Funeral Homes' West Chapel, 11020 W. Broad St. Burial will be in Westhampton Memorial Park.

Born into a Coast Guard family in New London, Conn., he later lived in Morehead City, N.C. He earned a bachelor's degree in music at what is now Virginia Commonwealth University.

He was serving as head of the department of office administration at Hardin-Simmons University in Texas when he saw the Reynolds position advertised. "He felt like he wanted to get back to Richmond," said his wife of 52 years, Barbara Burbank Bowers.

Named Reynolds' chairman of business and public service technologies in 1973, he organized and supervised programs for day and evening classes for eight years. "There was one building when they started out, and then they added on," his wife said.

A music lover, Dr. Bowers played the euphonium, a baritone-voiced brass instrument, and the tuba. He had been a member of the Richmond Pops band and played at Grove Avenue Baptist Church, where he worshipped.

During his student days at VCU, he sang with a Grove Avenue Baptist Church men's chorus on a Channel 12 program.

In 1981, he went to Fairmont State University in West Virginia, where he retired in 1994 as chairman of the commerce division, and later moved back to Richmond.

Dr. Bowers also earned a master's degree in religious education from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary as well as a master's degree in business education and a doctorate in education from the University of Kentucky.

In addition to his wife, survivors include three sons, Richard Bowers of Orlando, Fla., Alan Bowers of Casselberry, Fla., and Robert Lee Bowers Jr. of Richmond; a brother, Jerry Bowers of Richmond; and three grandchildren.