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Former Hofstra professor, activist dies -- Newsday.com
Frank Bowe, a celebrated Hofstra professor and activist who championed for the rights of the disabled and helped draft the legislation that led to the Americans With Disabilities Act, died Aug. 21 of cancer. He was 60 years old.
Bowe, who was deaf, served as the executive director of the American Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities from 1976 to 1981. In 1977, he helped direct a nationwide sit-in that pushed legislators to implement Section 504 of the federal Rehabilitation Act, the world's first civil-rights provision for the disabled. Section 504 was the forerunner of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
After Section 504, Bowe continued to keep pressure on the nation's politicians, serving as a consultant to Congress for more than two decades. In 1996, he helped draft parts of the federal Telecommunications Act, which required manufacturers and providers of telecommunications equipment and services to ensure that they were accessible to persons with disabilities.
While Bowe saw the need for activism, he also sought other ways to better the lives of those with disabilities -- something he did by training special education teachers during his 16 years at Hofstra. He encouraged everyone, including his students, to look beyond the disability to see the person, said his wife, Phyllis Bowe, of Lawrence.
It was a philosophy they made sure to impart to their two girls, Doran Windsor Bowe, 31, and Whitney Bowe-Auerbach, 28, also of Lawrence.
"They learned a lesson in the house on seeing beyond what people are," said Phyllis Bowe, adding, "They were to be kind, considerate, good people. Not just bright, but good."
Frank Bowe believed it was his mission to educate the public about disabilities, Bowe-Auerbach said, and it was this that pushed him to keep his summer classes, despite cancer that had spread all over his body, she said. When he was too sick to go to the university, he taught from his hospital bed, using a broadband connection, she said.
"It was a rush for him," Bowe-Auerbach said about her father's ability to inspire change in individuals and institutions alike. "He was a hugely gentle person. He wanted good."
He also wanted things to be easier for people living with disabilities than they were for him, growing up as he did in the 1950s when, according to Doran Bowe, few instructors were truly sympathetic to a deaf boy.
"He had to pass music" to graduate high school, Doran Bowe said. "He had to make up what the music meant to him."
"He taught my sister and I that there were no obstacles in life" that couldn't be overcome, she said.
A funeral for Frank Bowe was held last Thursday at Boulevard Chapel in Hewlett. He was buried at New Montefiore Cemetery in West Babylon.
Frank Bowe, a celebrated Hofstra professor and activist who championed for the rights of the disabled and helped draft the legislation that led to the Americans With Disabilities Act, died Aug. 21 of cancer. He was 60 years old.
Bowe, who was deaf, served as the executive director of the American Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities from 1976 to 1981. In 1977, he helped direct a nationwide sit-in that pushed legislators to implement Section 504 of the federal Rehabilitation Act, the world's first civil-rights provision for the disabled. Section 504 was the forerunner of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
After Section 504, Bowe continued to keep pressure on the nation's politicians, serving as a consultant to Congress for more than two decades. In 1996, he helped draft parts of the federal Telecommunications Act, which required manufacturers and providers of telecommunications equipment and services to ensure that they were accessible to persons with disabilities.
While Bowe saw the need for activism, he also sought other ways to better the lives of those with disabilities -- something he did by training special education teachers during his 16 years at Hofstra. He encouraged everyone, including his students, to look beyond the disability to see the person, said his wife, Phyllis Bowe, of Lawrence.
It was a philosophy they made sure to impart to their two girls, Doran Windsor Bowe, 31, and Whitney Bowe-Auerbach, 28, also of Lawrence.
"They learned a lesson in the house on seeing beyond what people are," said Phyllis Bowe, adding, "They were to be kind, considerate, good people. Not just bright, but good."
Frank Bowe believed it was his mission to educate the public about disabilities, Bowe-Auerbach said, and it was this that pushed him to keep his summer classes, despite cancer that had spread all over his body, she said. When he was too sick to go to the university, he taught from his hospital bed, using a broadband connection, she said.
"It was a rush for him," Bowe-Auerbach said about her father's ability to inspire change in individuals and institutions alike. "He was a hugely gentle person. He wanted good."
He also wanted things to be easier for people living with disabilities than they were for him, growing up as he did in the 1950s when, according to Doran Bowe, few instructors were truly sympathetic to a deaf boy.
"He had to pass music" to graduate high school, Doran Bowe said. "He had to make up what the music meant to him."
"He taught my sister and I that there were no obstacles in life" that couldn't be overcome, she said.
A funeral for Frank Bowe was held last Thursday at Boulevard Chapel in Hewlett. He was buried at New Montefiore Cemetery in West Babylon.