Born in
Bloomington, Illinois, he earned a degree from the
University of Michigan in 1888. His father was
Jonathan H. Rowell, a U.S. congressman in Illinois. Rowell studied three years in
Europe, including terms at the Universities of
Halle, Berlin, Paris and Rome. In 1898 he became the editor and manager of the
Fresno Morning Republican, the newspaper founded by his uncle
Dr. Chester Rowell. He remained as editor for 22 years. In 1907, he was the co-founder and chairman (1907–1911) of the
Lincoln-Roosevelt League, a coalition of progressive Republican activists. The league was instrumental in the election of
Hiram Johnson as governor of California. In 1912, Rowell was a member of the sub-committee that wrote the national platforms for both the Republican and Progressive parties. He was appointed to the
Panama–Pacific International Exposition Commission in 1911. Later, Rowell was a lecturer in journalism at the University of California, Berkeley (1911) and in political science at
Stanford University (1927–1934). He was editor of the
San Francisco Chronicle (1932–1939). He was a member of the
University of California Board of Regents from 1914 until shortly before his death in 1948. He took an interest in the
popularization of science. He also served on the board of trustees for Science Service, now known as
Society for Science & the Public, from 1921 to 1923. ==Notes==