Samuel Bowie Gardiner

10/26/1941 - 11/25/2024

October 26, 1941 – November 25, 2025
Samuel Bowie Gardiner, a retired United States Air Force Colonel and expert in military strategy, died on November 25, 2025, in Roanoke, VA at the age of 84. The cause was cancer.
Gardiner was expert at conducting military simulations which helped influence security decisions in the U.S. and abroad. He worked early in his career at the Pentagon. He served in Thailand during the Vietnam War, working on plans for POW recovery in Laos. He also served two years at the NATO military headquarters in Belgium.
He went on to the National War College in Washington, DC, where he was an enthusiastic teacher of military strategy to officers, becoming chairman of the operations department. Gardiner also facilitated policy examinations for the State Department, the Agency for International Development and the Central Intelligence Agency. He taught at the Air War College and Naval War College, was a nonresident fellow at Princeton University and a visiting scholar at the Swedish National Defense University. Gardiner frequently worked on security issues with international representatives, facilitating seminars around the world. He wrote extensively. His decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit and Bronze Star. In 2019, the Government of Finland awarded him the Order of the Lion of Finland.
He is survived by his loving and loved wife, Susan; his children, Lisa (Jason) and Ryan; his stepchildren, Lisa Hogan (Paul) and Alison Pope (Kevin); 11 grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. Inurnment will be at Arlington National Cemetery. Donations may be made to Feeding Southwest Virginia or The Parkinson's Foundation.