Bill Bowen R.I.P.

September 1, 2010 permalink

Late on September 1 this notice appeared on the Facebook page of Bill Bowen:

Sheridan Rich I post this with so much sadness and with permission by Bill's family. I dont really know how else to say this..... Bill passed away 2 weeks ago from a heart attack. I was asked by his family to let you all know that he went peacefully. Bill you are an angel in Heaven now, as you were here on this earth..and will be so missed by us all.

Source: Facebook, Bill Bowen

Bill was the producer of the mini-documentary Innocence Destroyed. He had promised to expand it into a full-length documentary this summer. There is no word on how far this has progressed.

Bill Bowen will be missed by all who are dedicated to really protecting children.

Addendum: An obituary by Daniel Weaver.

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One of the brightest, articulate and assertive advocates of Child Protective Services reform, Bill Bowen, has died of a heart attack.

Before his death, Bowen was trying to raise money to produce a full length version of his 30 minute documentary film, Innocence Destroyed. Innocence Destroyed exposes the deaths of thousands of children while in the care of Child Protective Services.

I had several long late night conversations with Bill Bowen via telephone this summer and while we talked about everything, and while he had many irons in the fire, his top priority was finishing Innocence Destroyed as well as helping people initiate class action lawsuits against Child Protective Services agencies in all fifty states.

Bowen, a former fire fighter and federal investigator, is also known for exposing the New York City Fire Department in a book, Radio Silence F.D.N.Y. The Betrayal of New York's Bravest, which he coauthored with Battalion Chief John Joyce. The book describes how 125 New York City firefighters and numerous civilians lost their lives on 9/11 due to problems with their two-way radios.

Many of us only became friends with Bill in the past year. Some of us hooked up with him on Facebook, where he had many friends.

We will all miss him.

My hope is that a filmmaker will take up where Bill left off and finish his documentary because I believe it is what he wanted to leave as his legacy.

Source: National Examiner, Daniel Weaver

Addendum: In a reposted message Bill's sister damps speculation of foul play.

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Sheridan Rich Hello Sheridan,

This email is for you to distribute anyway you feel is necessary.

I am Beverly Bowen, Bill Bowens sister.

I live in Chicago and his daughter lives in LA.

This is a very trying time for the family, especially since his daughter is due to deliver a baby this month.

We understand their interest, however, we do not want our privacy to be invaded.

Bill, my brother passed away two weeks ago. The body was positively identified I assure you. It wasn't pleasant. He appears to have died of natural causes. There will not be a death certificate until the results of the toxology reports come back in. I hope to have that within the next week from the Coroner.

While his death was untimely and because of the nature of his work, suspicous, I understand the thinking that he is not really gone. However, I assure he is. It looks right now to be natural causes, nothing suspicous. I am not saying that something would not have happened to him or that it wasn't possible, I am just saying life intervened and got there first.

When the final paperwork is complete by the Sheriff and the Coroner, information will be released from me as the family spokesperson.

We ask that anyone talking about this respect our privacy and please stop with the speculations. They are only speculations and not facts. There is a big difference between the two. No one out there is dealing with the cold facts. We are.

I will release more information when I get it to Sheridan and she can distribute however she sees fit.

Beverly Bowen

September 24, 2010

Source: Facebook, Bill Bowen, September 24, 2010