Richard Plant Bower

Richard Plant Bower (March 1, 1905 – 1996) was a Canadian diplomat. He was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Venezuela[1] then to Argentina[2] and concurrently to Paraguay and Uruguay. He was later appointed to Japan then in 1964 he was concurrently accredited as ambassador to South Korea, Canada's first ambassador to that country.[3] Later he became ambassador to West Germany.[4]

Bower was born on March 1, 1905 in Kansas City, Missouri to Thomas Toefield Bower and Mabel Hamm. He graduated from the University of Manitoba in 1924. He joined the Canadian diplomatic corps in 1926 and was posted to the Netherlands as a trade commissioner. Subsequent postings included the then Dutch East Indies, New Zealand, Australia, Newfoundland (at that time an independent dominion within the British Commonwealth) and the United Kingdom. In 1956, on his appointment as ambassador to Venezuela, Bower transferred from the Department of Industry, Trade and Commerce to the Department of External Affairs. He died in 1996.[5]