Merle Edward Dowd

Merle Edward Dowd passed away peacefully on December 1, 2010, at Covenant Shores, Mercer Island, WA, at the age of 92. He was born May 27, 1918, to Nellie Anna Brown and John Edward Dowd, in Wellington, Kansas. He came of age in the Great Depression, and so he wrote in his memoir, A Kansas Kid: “I am a product of that environment.” He felt that his early contacts with farming gave him a conservative approach to living and managing money. Indeed, of his 20 published books, 15 were about money and how to handle it. Although he started at Kansas State College with the intent to study journalism, he eventually earned an engineering degree and then an MBA from Northwestern University. He pledged Delta Tau Delta and made many life-long friends at that fraternity. While at Northwestern, he met Anne Hemenway and they married June 17, 1949. They lived in Evanston and Wilmette, Illinois, until 1956 when they moved to Birmingham, Michigan, where he was employed by the Ford Motor Co. They moved in 1957 to Mercer Island, where he worked for The Boeing Company, rising to Unit Chief of the Presentations and Proposals graphics organization, until 1970. By that time he had written several books, including How to Live Better and Spend 20% Less, and numerous magazine articles, all in his spare time. After leaving Boeing, Merle started his “Money Talk” column in the Seattle Times, which ran for 24 years. He came to be involved in many small business ventures, juggling as many as six concurrently, including becoming a licensed stock broker and personal

finance adviser. He continued to write books and co-authored, with Frances Call, The Practical Book of Bicycling in 1974, and, with Archie Satterfield, The Seattle Guidebook in 1976. Merle and Anne established the Backwater Company to help people self-publish their books, as well as his own. He was a dedicated Rotarian, with 38 years of membership. Family life consisted of numerous camping and snow skiing trips, and Boy Scouts with his four sons. When the boys were grown, Merle and Anne traveled extensively, including his life-long desire to visit Fiji. Preceded in death by his wife Anne in 2005, and son Richard in 2006, Merle is survived by his brother Verlin (Betty) of Federal Way; and his sons Jerry, of Bellevue, Stephen (Debbie) of Cle Elum, and Timothy (Janet) of Seattle, and daughter-in-law Sue Hall Dowd of Mercer Island, and four grandchildren: Analeise, Caitlin, Laura (Matt), and Teal. The family would like to thank Covenant Shores for their excellent care of Merle in his last years. A memorial service will be held at 2 pm Wednesday, December 15, at the Mercer Island Presbyterian Church, 3605 84th Ave SE. In lieu of flowers, remembrances are suggested to your favorite charity.

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