Rhys V. Bowen

Rhys V. Bowen, 65, of Foxboro, MA died in his sleep on Sept. 15, 2025. Rhys was born in Sharon, CT on April 9, 1960 to Anne H. Bowen and the late John G. Bowen. His brother David died in 1979. Rhys grew up at The Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, CT where his father taught English. Attending Hotchkiss during high school, he excelled in academics and played soccer, basketball, and baseball. During these years, Rhys also learned the challenges and joys of running, and continued to run 50 miles a week, often before dawn, until the day he died.

In 1982 Rhys graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College and returned to Hotchkiss to teach biology, where he met his wife of 35 years, Rebecca (Becky) Snow. After two years of teaching, he left to join a team setting up a research field site in Borneo. The following year he went to the University of California, Davis where he earned a PhD in Animal Behavior in 1995.

Rather than follow an academic tenure track, Rhys preferred the sunup to sundown, seven-days-a-week, solitary focus of field ornithology. He spent the next several decades researching the ecology of bird species in California and on Cape Cod and the Islands. He believed passionately that in order to maintain species diversity in robust numbers, society needed to protect land in perpetuity. His proudest achievements, therefore, came through his work for the Lakes Region Conservation Trust, in New Hampshire, where he served on committees and the Board of Trustees for twenty years, including three years as Chair. Always a teacher, he enjoyed leading guided bird walks on LRCT properties to introduce folks to the natural history of birds and the landscape, and at the conclusion of a walk would pose the question, "What's your Bird of the Day?"

Deeply intellectual and curious, Rhys dove into new challenges. He learned Homeric Greek so he could read The Odyssey and The Iliad in their original language. An amateur Melville scholar, he amassed 94 books in his personal library and would wax poetic about reading Moby-Dick for the umpteenth time. He valued the writings of Henry David Thoreau, E.O. Wilson, Peter Matthiessen, and Barry Lopez, each of whom vividly described the natural environment and questioned what the fate of our planet and humanity might be if habitat destruction continued unchecked.

Rhys's spirit was filled by the performing arts. Concerts by the Handel and Haydn Society and Boston Early Music Festival often brought tears to his eyes, while Boston Bluegrass Union shows delivered toe tapping fidgetiness. Rhys eagerly awaited that one breath-taking moment in any production by Shakespeare and Company or Lyric Stage.

Rhys will be missed greatly by his wife Becky Snow, his mother Anne Bowen, his extended family, friends, and anyone who had the pleasure of knowing him.

Donations can be made in Rhys's name to the Lakes Region Conservation Trust.