Passing... Rowland "Ron" Mowrey aka PE, Photo Engineer, Feb. 15, 2020

[36cm2]

What a great teacher to so many, seen and unseen. Your legacy surely lives on, Ron. My sincerest thanks to you as you travel onward.

 

[NedL]

I think I'll wear something magenta in his memory.

I know that would make him laugh. Brought a smile to me too, thanks.

 

[jsmithphoto1]

Friends,
Since Mark is not on APUG, he requested that I post his Facebook post here...

"The Passing of Ron Mowrey

Our dear friend Ron Mowrey passed away Saturday morning. Anyone who had the opportunity to meet him during one of our gelatin emulsion workshops will remember his wonderful stories, his expansive knowledge of emulsion making and his wicked sense of humor He was dedicated to help a new generation to explore the magic of chemical photography and we will miss him terribly. Our heart goes out to his wife Suzi and the rest of his family.

https://bartolomeo.com/tribute/details/12929/Rowland-Mowrey/obituary.html"

 

[Jeff L]

Truly sad news. He was generous with his knowledge and advice. I enjoyed his stories about Kodak and NASA. Ron was an important voice. Condolences to his family and all his friends.

 

[peoplemerge]

So sad. Ron was always a deep voice of reason here. I never got to meet him in person, but I learned a lot from his posts and his open sharing of information, and the handful of questions I was able to pose him. I was able to acquire his book on emulsion making. I have a document organized around his quotes on this forum, so I can refer back to them. It's wonderful that he immortalized so much of his wisdom here.

RIP

 

[Robert Stone]

So sad to hear. He was such an inspiration for me years ago when I began my photographic journey. A wealth of knowledge and generous with his time to share what he knew. He will be missed.

 

[halfaman]

It always amazed me how long he was present in forums sharing information and asking questions. He kept doing it tirelessly until the end. Incredible generosity and passion.

Rest in peace.

 

[mpirie]

Such sad news.

RIP Ron and rest easy in the knowledge that your memory and contributions to the world of photography will live on.

Mike

 

[RalphLambrecht]

A valued friend and a great loss to all. RIP

Charley

+1

 

[eatfrog]

Incredibly sad news. I often would check PE:s profile to just read all his latest posts, since they were so filled with knowledge and wisdom. RIP!

 

[LimeyKeith]

Such sad news.

RIP Ron and rest easy in the knowledge that your memory and contributions to the world of photography will live on.

Mike

+1

 

[138S]

Very sad news. As many others, I'm very grateful for all that I have learned from his writtings and posts, one man of a kind, I think we're going to miss him a lot. Fortunately his writtings, so will have an opportunity to often remind him and his Incredible generosity and passion. Thanks Ron.

 

[mpirie]

I never met or spoke directly to Ron, but he was a major contributor to the photographic collective.

Our sympathies go out to those he left behind and a thank you goes out to Ron.

RIP

Mike

 

[Rick A]

https://www.photrio.com/forum/threa...rey-aka-pe-photo-engineer-feb-15-2020.173245/

 

[K-G]

An enormous and generous source of knowledge has closed. May we all benefit from what he tought us and in his generous way pass it on and share it with the new and unexperienced who we may meet, both in this forum and in real life.
My thoughts and feelings of sorrow go to his family.

Karl-Gustaf

 

[Tin Can]

Rest in Peace Ron

Godspeed

 

[holmburgers]

I just learned about Ron's passing today.

Ron was a wonderfully sweet and kind man. He had an irreverent and charmingly juvenile sense of humor, and often told amusing tales from his life. He was also a very smart man, and remained sharp till the end. He had a very large soft-spot, and was generous to a fault.

I met 'Photo Engineer' on APUG many moons ago, and it was because of Ron that I moved to Rochester in 2012. I interned with him and Mark Osterman for a year, alongside Nick Brandreth, who has gone on to make amazing things happen with the influence of Ron's emulsion making know-how and expertise.

I had a wonderful 6 years of life in Rochester, and I owe that initial decision almost completely to Ron. He influenced the course of my life in a meaningful and profound way, and I wouldn't be here in Vienna, Austria today had it not been for Ron's activity on this forum over 10 years ago.

I re-visited Rochester again in March of last year and met up with Ron one afternoon. I brought along some of my latest prototypes of our peel-apart ONE INSTANT film. He had many useful and insightful things to say, and recalled his own work on Kodak's instant system, which was one of his early work projects. He even met Edwin Land once, he told me, at a conference, but that Mr. Land had his nose so high he didn't like him much. We ate some greasy burgers at Schaller's in Greece, NY, right by the lake; Ron's treat. We then went back to his house, and climbed down into the basement so he could dig through his overflowing darkroom to look for some old examples of those early instant tests from Kodak. He never did find them. Then we walked around his yard and just talked. It was a lovely visit, and I'm glad I got to see him that time. It turned out to be our last meeting.

Ron and his wife Suzi were always fond of having visitors, and my first 'study sessions' upon landing in Rochester were about emulsion technique, and took place at their home over coffee. That first meeting, Ron gifted me a college ruled notebook, and told me if I was going to study photo engineering, I better take damn good notes!

I still have the notebook, and it's chock full of information that is priceless to me. I am still adding to it, though more infrequently, and this morning I entered the passing of Rowland Mowrey. I was just thinking last week that I should send Ron a picture of this well-worn article and thank him again for it.

So, I raise a giant mug of Pittsburgh Brewing’s Olde Frothingslosh, and sing a hearty toast to our departed friend. Ron, I guess you're in the stop bath now, because you're finally done developing... :'-)

We'll miss you Ron,

Chris Holmquist
holmburgers

 

[Valerie]

What a sad day! You will be missed so much, Ron. RIP

 

[Lee Rust]

...So, I raise a giant mug of Pittsburgh Brewing’s Olde Frothingslosh, and sing a hearty toast to our departed friend. Ron, I guess you're in the stop bath now, because you're finally done developing... :'-)

We'll miss you Ron,

Chris Holmquist
holmburgers

That's a beautiful story, Chris. It's good to hear how much you're developing too.

Lee Rust

 

[Henning Serger]

That is very, very sad news.
I think we all here on photrio have benefitted a lot from his oustanding knowledge and his extremely helpful / cooperative behaviour. He was a great teacher.
Personally I have learned very much from him, and we've had quite a lot of talks via email.
I will miss him very much.

Condolences to his family and friends.
And Bob, thank you very much for letting us know.

Kind regards,
Henning

 

[DREW WILEY]

He was active nearly to the end. What a career! I'm not surprised at his passing, but nonetheless it's quite sad. He will be missed.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

I’ve merged the thread beginning with Mark Osterman’s forwarded post and responses thereto with this one.

 

[Doremus Scudder]

This seems like the end of an era to me. The loss of someone so intelligent, knowledgeable, generous and kind is a blow to us all. He is irreplaceable and will be sorely missed.

My condolences (in the truest sense of the word) to his surviving family, friends and acquaintances, including all of us here on the forum.

May he rest in peace.

Doremus

 

[Jerevan]

I agree with @jnantz about reality bending again ... dang, things will not be the same with the dear gentleman gone ...

I have learnt tremendous amounts of things related to emulsion making and photographic chemistry in general. And something about sharing what you know, helping others along.

Rest in peace, Mr Mowrey.

 

[guangong]

Everything I wanted to say has already been said. He has encyclopedic knowledge and class. Will miss his commentaries.