Augustus Rowe

Augustus Taylor Rowe (August 2, 1920 – July 20, 2013) was a Canadian physician and politician. He served as a member of the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly for Carbonear from 1971 to 1975.[1] He also spent three years as the province's Health Minister within the cabinet of the former Premier Frank Moores from January 1972 to 1975.[1][2]

Rowe was born on August 2, 1920, in Heart's Content, Dominion of Newfoundland (the present-day province of Newfoundland and Labrador).[1][2] He enlisted in the Royal Newfoundland Regiment during World War II.[1][2] He completed medical school at St Mary's Hospital Medical School (which was part of the University of London at the time) in London following the war.[1] He returned to Newfoundland and settled in Carbonear in 1954, where he began his medical career as a general practitioner.[1][2]

In 1957, Dr. Rowe founded Carbonear's first hospital, Carbonear Community Hospital.[1] He led the efforts to raise approximately $37,000 Canadian dollars to establish the new hospital, which provided regional patients which a local medical center. Previously, patients needing hospital treatment had to travel to St. John's or Old Perlican.[1] Rowe served as the director of Carbonear Community Hospital from its opening in 1957 until October 1971, when he resigned upon his election to the House of Assembly.[1]

Rowe was elected to the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly as a MLA from Carbonear in October 1971 as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Newfoundland and Labrador.[1] Rowe was re-elected to the House of Assembly in 1972.[1] Rowe was appointed as provincial Health Minister within the cabinet of Premier Frank Moores from January 1972 to 1975.[2]

He retired from politics in 1975 to pursue family medicine.[1] He later joined the faculty of Memorial University of Newfoundland and became the university's chairman of Family Medicine from 1978 to 1985.[1][2] A university honor, the Gus Rowe Teaching Award, which is bestowed by the Faculty of Medicine was named for Rowe.[1]

He retired from the University in 1985 and moved to Toronto with his wife, Beatrice.[1][2] He died in Toronto on July 20, 2013, at the age of 92.[1] He was survived by wife of 68 years, Beatrice "Bea" (née Adams) Rowe; two children, David and Jane, and two grandchildren.[2]