Remarks by President Margaret L. Drugovich Hartwick College At the Memorial Service for Roy Rowan February 3, 2017 The Century Association 7 West 43rd Street, New York, New York
The Rowan family has had a long and meaningful relationship with Hartwick College
It is my privilege to add these thoughts during this celebration of Roy Rowan.
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So much of meaning has already been said of Roy.
Today we have reflected on his significance as a journalist, an adventurer, a thinker, a writer, a husband, a father, and a dear friend.
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I met Roy for the first time eight years ago. By then, many of the wondrous things that have been recounted were already incorporated into his life narrative, and, I think he would say, were already part of his past.
A humble sentiment, but, not of course, a true reflection of his vibrancy during the last chapter of his life
You only had to speak to him to understand that this was not a man whose past, however significant, fully defined him.
When you spoke with Roy he used that probing gaze to pull you closer.
He inhaled your ideas, with intensity and expectation.
You could almost see the flicker in his eye as he sorted out what was important about what you had to say, and what was not.
I often felt that Roy was waiting, hoping, that I would bring him a new idea to consider; to scrutinize, contextualize, and, perhaps, if he embraced it, build upon still. Roy was a builder, and he was, by far measure, one of the most intellectually curious and intellectually restive people that I have ever known.
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I have wondered if Roy’s deep observations of and reflections on war, organized crime, poverty, assassination, and the abuse of power prompted him to understand that if you were lucky enough to get another day, you should put it to its best use.
He leaves that standard for us. He would say: Don’t Waste a Minute.
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How does someone late in life continue to lean so eagerly into his future?
Five years ago, at age 91, he graciously signed for me a copy of his book Never Too Late.
I told him that I wanted to gift the book to my own mother, to serve as an inspiration at a time when, at age 83 and ailing, she needed encouragement.
He asked me to share with her his secret: Take it one day at a time and never lose hope that something good was just around the corner.
After all he had seen in the world, his eyes looked forward toward what lie ahead.
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Roy Rowan served on the Hartwick College Board of Trustees, the alma mater of his son Marcus, from 1986-1994.
In recognition of his many contributions to the College and society, Hartwick College awarded him the honorary degree Doctor of Humane Letters in 1995, and he was later awarded the status of Trustee Emeritus for his exemplary service.
It was during this time that Roy began to discuss, with Hartwick College archivist Shelley Wallace, the possible donation of his papers to Hartwick.
After careful deliberation, he chose to make Hartwick the permanent home for his intellectual work.
Margaret L. Drugovich, President, Hartwick College Remarks at the Memorial of Roy Rowan February 3rd 2017, The Century Association, New York City 2
Roy donated his manuscripts, related papers, and other materials to Hartwick College starting in 2002. A great portion of his body of work, including those previously donated to Dartmouth College related to his book titled “The Four Days of (MY-YA-Gezs) Mayaguez”, are now available to students and scholars in the Hartwick College archival library.
This collection, now 40 cubic foot of material, is the tangible evidence of Roy’s remarkable engagement with the world. The collection includes books, videos, audio tapes, negatives, photographs, and slides. It includes vintage 1940s photographs with inscription in his own hand, over 1000 slides he took in China in 1981, and his controversial and unpublished manuscript titled “Connections” that details interviews and American business involvement with the mafia.
Also included is mail from historically significant figures such as Presidents Ford and Reagan, Astronaut John Glenn, American writer Marguerite Henry, and longtime editor-in-chief of the Cosmopolitan magazine, and, as we have heard, Roy’s friend Helen Gurley Brown.
In 2004 an exhibit of Roy’s photojournalism titled China’s Civil War was presented in the Hartwick College Yager Museum and featured photographs that he took while serving as United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration in China. I should note that it was on this occasion that Hartwick recognized another leader, Richard Stolley, who with us here, with an honorary degree.
As we have heard from others today, it is this relief work that took him into the literal cross-fire between the Mao Zedong's Communist forces and Chiang Kai-sheks Nationalist forces. Some of these same photographs were used to illustrate Roy’s memoir, Chasing the Dragon. These are the photographs that, at Marc’s request, I have brought from the college for display today so that you can consider, directly, the power of Roy’s work.
Roy returned to our campus twice in these last eight years to speak about his writing. He chronicled history in real time so that others could seek it and retrieve it and understand it anew, now from the vantage of novel frames of contemporary thinking, and do so well into the future.
In this way Roy will continue to shape our understanding of history – and, consequently, shape our future.
Because Roy understood the importance of preserving his work for future study, young scholars at Hartwick and elsewhere will have the extraordinary opportunity to research Roy’s evacuation from Saigon, his taped interviews with Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos, and his notes from his time as homeless Roy Brown on the streets on this remarkable and complex city.
Margaret L. Drugovich, President, Hartwick College Remarks at the Memorial of Roy Rowan February 3rd 2017, The Century Association, New York City 3
I hope that these scholars develop his insatiable appetite for intellectual stimulation. It would be Roy’s greatest gift.
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When I stood here in 2014 I remarked of Helen Rowan that
“She knew that the goal was not to learn everything, but rather to use what she learned as a doorway into yet another unknown place of mystery and beauty.”
I would say that Roy, too, knew that the goal was not to learn everything, but rather to use what he learned as a key to the next doorway, no matter how daunting, no matter what lay beyond.
Dana, Nicholas, Douglas, and Marcus, the world is a better place because of your remarkable father. It was a privilege to know him.
Thank you for including me in this special tribute.
Margaret L. Drugovich, President, Hartwick College Remarks at the Memorial of Roy Rowan February 3rd 2017, The Century Association, New York City 4