John Richard Fowler

John Richard "Dick" Fowler (February 17, 1927 - March 23, 2007) was a registered pharmacist, small businessman, school board member, city councilman, and civic leader in Memphis, the seat of Hall County, Texas, in the southern Panhandle. Professionally, he was a past president of the West Texas Pharmaceutical Association. Governor John B. Connally, Jr., named him to the Texas State Board of Pharmacy, an independent regulatory agency. His board service extended from July 23, 1967, to June 20, 1973. Fowler was the board president during the first Preston Smith administration from 1969-1970.

Fowler was born in Sayre, the seat of Beckham County in western Oklahoma, to John A. Fowler (1903-1989) and the former Ruth Garrett (1902-1997). He graduated from Petersburg High School in Hale County on the Texas South Plains.

Fowler was a veteran of the United States Navy.

He earned his bachelor of science degree in pharmacy from the University of Texas at Austin. For most of his career, he was a partner with his pharmacist father and brother, Robert Edward "Bob" Fowler (born ca. 1929), in Fowler Drug Company in Memphis. The Fowlers sold the business in 1994 to John Riddles. Thereafter, Riddles sold to Jana K. Gonzalez, a graduate of the Southwestern Oklahoma State University School of Pharmacy in Weatherford (Custer County). She operates the company as Memphis Drugs.

In 1960, Governor Marion Price Daniel, Sr., named Fowler to the board of commissioners of the Red River Authority of Texas, a state conservation agency based in Wichita Falls. He served as a commissioner until 1967, when he switched to the pharmacy board.

Fowler was elected to the Memphis School Board in 1977 and served until 1983. He did not seek another term. At the time of his death, he was a member of the Memphis City Council, which consists of eight members, four each from two wards. The school board, city council, and state boards are nonpartisan positions in Texas. He was elected in 2003 and 2005 to two-year terms on the council. He was unopposed for a third term in the May 2007 election.

He was an active member of the First Christian Church of Memphis. He was a past president of the Memphis Lions Club and the Memphis Chamber of Commerce. He was a Masonic lodge member for more than a half century.

Fowler was married for fifty-seven years to Louise R. Fowler (born ca. 1930). The couple had three children and five grandchildren.

Fowler is interred in Fairview Cemetery in Memphis.