Robert McGowan, Former Pasadena Police Chief, Dies at 88

Former Pasadena Police Chief Robert Harrison McGowan died last Tuesday, June 7, in Pasadena. He was 88.

McGowan, “Bob” to friends, served with the Pasadena Police Department for over 31 years. He was Pasadena Chief of Police from November, 1968 until June, 1985. As a police officer, he was former President of the Peace Officers Association of Los Angeles County and former president as well of the California Police Chiefs Association.

After retiring from the Police Department, McGowan worked for many years as a security consultant and an expert witness.

Pasadena Police Chief Phillip L. Sanchez summed up McGowan’s service with the police department as he expressed the department’s condolences.

“It is with deep sadness that I share with you the news that retired Pasadena Police Chief Robert H. McGowan passed away Tuesday after struggling with failing health,” Sanchez said. “Chief McGowan rose through the ranks and was appointed to Chief of Police in 1968. He was the ninth Pasadena Police Chief and honorably served the Police Department and the community for more than 30 years before retiring in 1985.”

Sanchez said McGowan pioneered a policing philosophy that was the foundation for Community Policing long before it became a standard in American law enforcement.

“Chief McGowan led the organization through the social revolution of the 1960s,” Sanchez said. “During his administration, he established contemporary policing strategies which were well respected among the law enforcement community, such as the implementation of School Resource Officers and the creation of a Community Relations Unit. Chief McGowan established foot-beat teams in the Old Pasadena district when the area was known for its rough element and criminal activity in the early 1970s and he hired the first female police officer assigned directly to patrol duties.”

Sanchez remembers McGowan wrote about how deeply connected the police department should be to the community.

“No police department can function apart from the people whom it serves and all people must be as much a part of the police department as any of its policemen; for it’s only through the continuous effort of all of us that we can enjoy the rewards of a stable community,” Sanchez quotes McGowan as having written.

McGowan attended Jefferson Elementary, Marshall Junior High, Pasadena High School and Pasadena Junior College. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Business at the University of Southern California. He was a World War II Veteran serving in the United States Navy, and also served in the U.S. Navy Reserve during the Korean War.

Bob McGowan leaves behind his wife Ramona, his daughter Cindy, son Steven, grandson Nick, granddaughter Alyssa, son-in-law Paul and his cousin Herbert Hezlep III.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be sent to the Salvation Army or American Legion Post 13.