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Robert Fowler Obituary
Robert Booth Fowler
May 16, 1940 - Jan. 13, 2024
MADISON - Robert Booth Fowler was born May 16, 1940, son of Robert McSwain Fowler and Elizabeth Bygate Booth; brother of Harriet Fowler O'Toole and Nancy Fowler Barton, all now deceased. Our beloved Booth is also now in the arms of God.
He is survived by his beloved wife, Alice Joy Honeywell; his treasured and beloved son, Benjamin (Marian); a stepdaughter and stepson: Marcie Joy Hunt (Scott), and Theodore VanDeburg (Jennifer); and their children: Ethan and Caden Hunt, and Hadley, Harper, and Hollis VanDeburg. He is also survived by his dear Madison cousins: Louise Robbins and Patrick Booth Robbins; cousin, Greg Robbins; and his sister' children - loving nieces and nephews across the country.
Booth died as he lived - as an enigma. A complicated person, he loved being a puzzle to people throughout his life - never liked being predictable - and that's a quality he maintained right up to the end of his earthly existence. Until three weeks prior to his death on January 13, 2024, he seemed a picture of health, hiking in the mountains, walking long distances at a fast clip. Troubling signs appeared quite suddenly, and in only three weeks he was overcome by lung and kidney failures caused by a rare autoimmune disorder, GPA (formerly known as Wegener's disease).
He grew up in Niagara Falls, NY, graduated from Niagara Falls High School, Haverford College (B.A.), and Harvard University (Ph.D.). He spent his entire career as a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, endearing himself to thousands of students. As they say frequently, "He taught me to think." He retired as Professor of Political Science and as the Herbert and Evelyn Howe Professor of Integrated Liberal Studies. He continued teaching in retirement and enthralled audiences as he had earlier with his impersonations of great thinkers. In 2018, he was honored to have his name attached to a University of Wisconsin-Madison professorship and to see funds raised resulting in another political scientist being titled the Robert Booth Fowler Professor of Political Science.
Booth had a joyous retirement, writing several more books; traversing mountain trails in the Sonoran Desert and enjoying winter friends in Tucson; pursuing several lifelong hobbies including reading ever so broadly and with several book groups; serving his church; playing cards; compiling election statistics; collecting stamps; watching foreign movies. He especially loved keeping up with his family members, friends, and former students via email, hand-written letters, and creative postcards.
A generous donor himself to many worthy causes, he would appreciate that in lieu of flowers, people might consider giving to one of two favored organizations: St. James Catholic School in Madison (endowment fund that supports students and teachers); or the University of Wisconsin Arboretum.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
Memories and Condolences
for Robert Fowler
Carol Shea
March 4, 2025
I grew up with Booth in Niagara Falls. We went to St. Stephen´s Episcopal Church where we sang in the choir. I have a picture of the two of us in our choir finery. It´s been so many years since then but I still have so many fond memories of him.
Lynn Eldred
August 8, 2024
Booth Fowler was the finest professor of my academic career. His innovative and challenging History of Political Thought classes elevated my analytical process. Thank you, professor for inspiring and shaping me. I´ve gone on to get 2 other degrees and never met your equal.
Lynn Eldred, Ed.D
UW class of 1975
Mike Anderson
May 1, 2024
I was one of Prof. Fowler´s students in the 70´s. I took every class of his I could get into. He was a very engaging teacher with a gift for drawing students into his lectures. His course on Post WW2 pragmatism changed my view of politics and the world. He was the best professor I ever had.
Bob & Lynda Bennin
April 26, 2024
Lynda and I have known his dear wife Alice for years, since we have all been members of the Presbyterian church in Waunakee. Booth was Catholic, so we didn't get to see him much. However, he recently masterfully reorganized our church library. I first met Booth then and also at author Margaret George's reading of her book "Mary Magdalene" held at our church. Booth and I are both about the same age, and I thought this is an interesting man with whom I could be friends. Alas, it was not to be. After reading the reminiscences from his adoring students, I ,sadly, can only consider Booth the good friend I almost had.
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John David Harman
April 25, 2024
I finally gave to a nagging reminder to look up Booth's name and came up on this. I am both deeply saddened by this news and happy at the same time for the life he lived. Booth was my dissertation advisor at Wisconsin, over half a century ago. What an amazing man. What a free and boundless imagination! What a generous and kind heart! And what an example of the sheer love of learning. I have been a better teacher, scholar and person for having known him. Fair Winds and Following Seas from an old sailor. See you in the Grey Havens...
Anne Tigan
March 26, 2024
Condolences to Alice and all Booth´s family. I witnessed Booth´s enduring engagement with friends, joining him with Alice and others for brunch - usually in Summer. Ever the Professor, he was observant and incisive. He was full of joy and that was always a surprise and part of the "enigma" - a word used to describe him. I learned a lot from Booth. He will be missed.
Don Wiener
March 9, 2024
Like hundreds of students, he was an enormous influence in my life. A great lecturer. A good man.
Don Wiener, Madison
Michael James Dubin
February 1, 2024
Booth Fowler, as he liked to be called, was magic. In 1980 he called on me by name the second day of class. By then he knew all the students names and there were well over one hundred. Inexplicably in all the lecture courses I took from him he would end on a profound point a split second before the bell rang. How he kept his timing amidst a sea of questions no one will ever know. His greatness as a teacher when the country was laden with prided by wonderful humanities speakers will, I believe, will never be surpassed. As one student put it better,"To call him the greatest teacher ever is a boundless understatement".
He taught thinkers from the inside out. He called this the Verstehen method. This was enhanced by his slow deliberate movements and pauses that brought you inside the greats. He was trained as an actor and was dramatic. Even in a sit down graduate seminar which could come to a halting pause even whisper, once he saw a student was onto something he would leap to his feet yelling and pointing.....YES, YES. He got inside students as he did the greats and brought greatness out of them.
To be sure, he displayed drama in the classroom but it was his keen philosophical mind that won the day. One of his early books was called Believing Skeptics. It owed much to the genius Louis Hartz, his Harvard dissertation advisor. Indeed, it was such a clever Hartzian synthesis and paradox that it stunned its early readers. In time it became a classic in the field. It is now cited (published in 1978) by our nations leading political theorists, as well as, historians like Eric Foner. It remains on the required reading lists for doctoral prelim exams at our nation's (other countries as well) most esteemed universities.
Most of all Booth was a loyal friend, and while he was a great man, he remained a good man. His deep faith reflected his deep love of people. He said he was a realist. Not because he enjoyed power, but because he was deeply curious about what people were really about. True to his hero Augustine he was most loyal to the City of God and genuinely, passionately loved the City of Man. He synthesized these worlds masterfully. I only wish I had the words to express what he meant to me and multitudes of others.
Benjamin's Albrink family
January 29, 2024
Ben's mom
January 29, 2024
Jonathan Gramling
January 28, 2024
Booth was a great advisor to me when I was a poli sci student. For my last three credits, he was my advisor for an independent study on electoral politics in Mississippi in 1978 when I worked on the campaign of an independent Black candidate. I'm sure Booth advocated for me to get into grad school. I never could tell if he was on the liberal or conservative side of the equation and that was the point. It didn't matter. He was supportive to the end as a subscriber for the past 15 years to my paper The Capital City Hues. Thank you Booth for all that you have done for me and others.
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