Robert James Rowan III

Robert James Rowan III of Memphis, TN, 41, passed away July 6, 2025, after a hard fought battle with cancer. Robert was born September 29, 1983, in Memphis, Tennessee to Bob and Susan Rowan. Robert is survived by his parents, sister Barrett Argo(Josh), nephew, Rowan Argo; aunt, Ava Portis(Tom), uncle John Rowan(Peggy) and numerous cousins and extended family. He was preceded in death by grandparents, Bettie and Rodney Dunn, Betty Jo and Bobby Rowan and aunt, Lynn Ferrier. Robert grew up in Germantown, TN and attended St. Georges Day School and Memphis University School where he was an All-Memphis selection in football. In addition, he played baseball and soccer but loved all sports. Upon graduation from MUS, he attended Millsaps College and graduated from the University Tennessee double majoring in Political Science and English. After college, Robert moved to Austin, TX to establish residency in order to attend the School of Radio, Television and Film at The University of Texas. After a little over a year, his love of the city of Memphis called him home and he enrolled in the graduate program for Film and Video Production at the University of Memphis as a Graduate Assistant. Here he began to make connections with the Memphis film community. Robert had a wide variety of jobs in film and news media, such as freelance videography, editing and production for many local and national companies. He worked at WPTY-24, WREC-3 and WHBQ-13 working in photography, editing, On Site live news truck operation, and creating promotions and production of news segments and local commercials. He was skilled in all areas of news photography and post production work. Robert's last job was as Technical Event Producer for Medtronic throughout the United States. But, Robert's real passions were in his efforts in creating documentaries, short films and comedy sketches. He always had a project or new idea in the pipeline. His favorite part time job was teaching an after school film class (Film Club) at Memphis University School mentoring young men while teaching technical skills in addition to helping them develop their ideas into short films. Some of those students were inspired to make Flim and Movie production their career path. He was fondly referred to by his students as Doctor Professor Mister Coach Rowan, Etc. Through Robert's near 8 year battle with cancer, he genuinely appreciated that many family members and friends continuously reached out to him or visited him in various hospitals around the country. He would want you to know that those visits gave him a great deal of peace and comfort. Anyone that knew Robert well knew he could be intense, competitive, hardworking, strong willed, opinionated and complex. These qualities served him well with his fight to survive cancer. On the other hand, he could also be kind, caring, engaging and a strong advocate for those less fortunate. Always an animal lover, his cats brought him a great deal of comfort when he was not feeling well during his constant chemo treatments. Many of those treatments were extremely tough on him and his body but Robert never complained. Robert's hobbies were biking, playing his guitars, reading the classics, trying out new restaurants, cooking challenging recipes and traveling. He could often be found in downtown Memphis taking photographs of major weather events, city street scapes, the Mississippi River and beautiful sunsets. Robert LOVED Memphis, and he would want each of us to live our lives every day to the fullest. He would encourage us to make more art, listen to more music, watch more films, read more books and flex our critical thinking skills. He would want us to reach out to that friend we have not spoken to in a while because life gets busy and we all get distracted. He would want us to get out and ride our bike or do something that actively clears our mind and strengthens our body. He would want us to love ourselves and take care of the people you love. He would want us to share jokes and actively make real authentic connections with people. Robert was such a creative spark, and he was relentless in his pursuit of life and our world will be less with his passing. A celebration of life will be at Old Dominic Distillery on August 16th from 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm. Dress code to be very casual and feel free to wear your favorite sports jersey or humorous T-Shirt. He would want you to relax and have fun. Memorial donations in Robert's memory may be directed to Hope Lodge through the American Cancer Society (Memphis or Nashville location) and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. *NOTE: IF YOU ARE PLANNING TO ATTEND HIS CELEBRATION OF LIFE, PLEASE RSVP IN THE COMENTS SECTION OF THE MEMORIAL PARK WEBSITE OBITUARY FOR MR. ROWAN WITH THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE YOU PLAN TO ACCOMPANY YOU.