Englewood businessman who helped bring the Texas Rangers to Charlotte dies at age 85

ENGLEWOOD – Rex Rowley moved his wife Donna and four children from Gambier, Ohio, to Rotonda West in 1976 and quickly became enmeshed in the community.

Rowley, who died at age 85 on Jan. 28, became the principal agent for Karl S. Shaver Insurance Agency, president of the Englewood Chamber of Commerce in 1981, and went on to found Rowley Insurance in 1986.

Bob Dickinson – who met Rowley during those early days in Rotonda West – said Rowley was the type of genuine person who asked about your family, then listened intently for the news

“He was a very good friend,” said Dickinson, who last spoke by phone to Rowley, who had moved back to Ohio in 2016.

“He was looking forward to a simple thing – get on a mower and be able to mow the grass come spring,” Dickinson said. “He wasn’t a complicated guy.”

Dickinson figures many people will remember Rowley for his impact in the local sports world.

“He seemed to be involved in sports from the day he landed here,” Dickinson said.

Rowley loved to referee high school sports and shared a passion with his close friend, the late George Zuraw, a longtime baseball executive and scout who worked with several organizations – including the Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds, Seattle Mariners and Tampa Bay Rays.

Related: Long-time baseball scout George Zuraw dies

In 1987 Rowley and Zuraw helped lure the Texas Rangers from Pompano Beach to Port Charlotte for spring training.

“We had no land. We had no stadium. We just had a bunch of guys with a lot of enthusiasm," Rex Rowley told the Herald-Tribune in a February 2002 interview.

“He made many trips back to Texas, was very much involved,” Dickinson said.

He recalled that Rowley and Zuraw frequently sat behind home plate taking notes.

The two men were best friends, Keith Rowley said of his father and the baseball scout.

After the Rangers left Port Charlotte for Arizona for spring training in 2002, the two helped bring the Rays to a renovated Charlotte Sports Park.

A building at the complex is dedicated to Zuraw and Rowley.

Keith Rowley can name a litany of activities and service organizations his father volunteered with in Englewood – the Rotary and Kiwanis Clubs, Boy Scouts Council and the Masonic Lodge.

“My dad never let any grass grow under his feet, ever,” Rowley said.

Rowley is especially proud of the fact that then-Sarasota County Sheriff Bill Balkwill presented his father with a 50-year service pin for the Masonic Lodge.

That was especially sweet, since Rex Rowley was a big proponent of the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office and had enrolled in one of the first sheriff’s Citizen’s Academies.

“He always had a heart for Sarasota County sheriffs,” Rowley said.

Rowley worked with his father at Rowley Insurance as the business grew and eventually bought his father out about 18 years ago, so he could retire.

In June 2017 Rex Rowley – who was technically a snowbird, after moving back to Mount Vernon, Ohio, after meeting his dear companion, Kay Ringwalt – was the recipient of the 21st Annual Smoked Mullet award, from the Secret Society of Smoked Mullets.

The award was established in 1996 to honor people who helped create Englewood.

“The Smoked Mullet, that was a big one for him,” Rowley said. “It’s tough to put into words everything he did.

“He never did it for glory, for gain or business or anything,” he continued. “He was just that kind of a person.”

Rex Rowley was predeceased by his late wife Donna and his eldest son, Kevin.

He is survived by his sister Virginia “Ginnie” Ann Suitts, and three children: William “Craig” Rowley and his wife Lindsey, Amanda “Mandy” Louise Horan, and Michael “Keith” Rowley and his wife Cheryl.

Rowley had five grandchildren, Jodi, Tyler, Kayla, Trent and Cody, along with eight great-grandchildren.

A memorial service is being hosted in Mount Vernon on Feb. 16.

A celebration of life will be at 2 p.m., March 12, at the Englewood United Methodist Church, 700 E. Dearborn Street, Englewood.

Earle Kimel primarily covers south Sarasota County for the Herald-Tribune and can be reached at earle.kimel@heraldtribune.com. Support local journalism with a digital subscription to the Herald-Tribune.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Rex Rowley, who helped bring the Texas Rangers to Charlotte County, dies at 85