Mark Rowland
Feb 16, 1937 -
Jun 20, 2024
Mark C. Rowland, a former Alaska Superior Court judge and avid outdoorsman, died on Thursday, June 20, 2024, in Anchorage, Alaska. He was 87.
Rowland's peaceful passing came after a long period of declining health. His family was at his side at Providence Alaska Medical Center.
He had been a pillar of community life in Anchorage for 20 years as a judge, including as presiding judge of the Superior Court, but he was best known to his family and many friends for his deep laugh, beaming smile and storytelling at the dinner table that lasted long after the plates were cleared.
Rowland accumulated great Alaska tales through his long legal career and his insatiable delight in the outdoors. A pilot, a sailor and an expert with a shotgun and a fishing rod, he caught every kind of game and explored every corner of Alaska and many other exotic places, including making many trips to Africa.
As a judge, he was known for his empathy as well as his intellect. He believed in second chances, but also sent away some of Alaska's worst criminals for life sentences. When Alaska considered reinstituting the death penalty, he threatened to resign from the bench if the bill passed.
After retirement, he became a fixture of the fishing village of Seldovia, where he once again made friends and held court at his table overlooking Kachemak Bay and the Mount Redoubt and Iliamna volcanos. He was the distinguished older gentleman always wearing a pressed shirt, even for visits to the post office, landfill or Linwood Bar, and greeting everyone with his warm handshake and easy laughter.
Mark Rowland was born on Feb. 16, 1937, in New York City to John and Jane Stevens Rowland. He grew up in Larchmont, N.Y.
Rowland attended Deerfield Academy, in Deerfield, Mass., - the setting of the movie "The Holdovers" - graduating in 1955. He spent two years as an Army infantryman in Europe and matriculated at Cornell University.
But he wanted to break away from his parents' world and go west. He received a B.S. degree from the University of Arizona in 1962, and an LL.B. degree from the university's law school in 1965. That year, he and his wife at the time, Gail Hinman Rowland, moved to Juneau, where he took a job as an Assistant Attorney General for the new State of Alaska.
The couple had two daughters, Sarah and Kate, born in Juneau and Anchorage, respectively.
The Rowlands moved to Anchorage in 1967, and lived on Lord Baranof Drive in the Turnagain neighborhood. Rowland served as an Assistant District Attorney before entering private practice with Jack Hendrickson and Edmond Burke. That partnership lasted until 1971, when he continued his commercial litigation and transportation practice on his own.
In 1977, Governor Jay Hammond appointed Rowland to a vacancy on the Superior Court in Anchorage, where he presided over many high-profile cases until his retirement in 1996.
In 1987, he made a landmark $10 million ruling in favor of an Alaska Native Corporation regarding mishandled investments by its bankers. The president of the bank had by then become U.S. Senator Frank Murkowski.
A favorite photo in Rowland's home shows him swearing in a friend who had just been appointed as a judge while standing in a marsh on a duck hunt.
Rowland married his surviving wife, Felicia Lowe Pauli, in 1995. Their life together spanned international travels, hunting adventures and their home in Seldovia, with friendship and visits with many past colleagues and neighbors around Kachemak Bay.
Besides Felicia, Rowland is survived by his daughter, Sarah of Peapack, N. J., and husband Charles Wohlforth; daughter, Kate of London, England, and partner Henk Van Hulle; stepdaughters, Amber and Adria Pauli of Los Angeles, Calif., and Sarah Pauli of Sedona, Ariz., and husband, Rafael Ramos; and stepgrandchildren, Valentina and Kai Ramos. He was preceded in death by his brother, Van Vleck Rowland.
A funeral will be held today, Wednesday, June 26, 2024, at 4 p.m., at St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Anchorage, with a reception to follow in the parish hall.
