Richard W. Bowles

Richard William Bowles (30 June 1918, Rogers, Ark. – 7 December 2009, Gainesville, Fla.) was an American composer and educator.

Mr. Bowles studied trombone and string bass, receiving degrees from Indiana University and the University of Wisconsin. He was band director of the Culver (Indiana) High School and the 715th Army Air Force Band.

He studied composition with Robert Sanders, Cecil Burleigh, and others. He has received four ASCAP awards for composition, was elected to the American Bandmasters Association in 1963, and is a past president of the College Band Directors National Association. He has published several articles in magazines on the subject of his hobbies, fishing and travel. Bowles has many original compositions and arrangements to his credit. For many years, he was a professor of music at the University of Florida and was conductor of bands there.

After his retirement, Mr. Bowles became an avid fisherman and environmentalist. His outdoor writing career included the weekly columns “A Pinch of Salt” and “Outdoor Journal” for the Gainesville Sun, and the monthly “Big Bend Action Spotter” for Florida Sportsman.