Richard W. Bowen, age 75, died in Chicago on October 31, 2022, after a brief illness, survived by his beloved children, David (fiancée Alayna Alvarez) and Laura; his three brothers, Ronald, Randall and Roger; his former wife Nancy Gerrie; and many friends, colleagues, and generations of students.  Rich received his Ph.D. degree at Columbia University, joined the faculty at Loyola University Chicago in 1975, and attained the rank of Professor of Psychology (later Professor Emeritus), where he became a popular professor of General Psychology and Research Methods.  He was often stopped on Chicago streets by former students hailing "Doc Bowen!" who remembered enjoying his classes decades earlier.  A music lover, he began his classes with a few minutes of Mozart, Beethoven, Dvorak, or the Romantics, often at high volume.   Rich was also a noted researcher and author in psychophysics and human vision, with a special interest in perceptual processing in dyslexia.

Rich was an art lover and collector, with an encyclopedic knowledge of oriental rugs, especially Persian Village rugs, along with Indonesian textiles, and Asian and African Art.  He had a special interest and collection in outsider art and served on the Board of Directors and the Collections and Acquisitions Committee of Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art. He was proud that he participated in every Intuit member travel tour since joining the board in 2014, always regaling other members with his art collecting stories.  He volunteered at Project Onward, which uses art to promote empathy and reduce the stigma of mental illness and developmental disabilities, and actively mentored and encouraged the artists, while supporting them by collecting their works, which he displayed in his home.

Rich had a great sense of humor.  He wrote several capsule restaurant reviews for the Program of the 1970 Optical Society of America meeting held in Chicago.  As a lark, he sent the reviews to Chicago Magazine and suggested he might serve as one of their restaurant reviewers.  He then wrote several restaurant reviews for the magazine, but was told that the magazine was not interested in more.  Undaunted, he and Loyola colleague Dick Fay wrote and published "Hot Dog Chicago, A Native's Dining Guide" (Chicago Review Press, 1983), a satiric view of modern restaurant reviews, and one of the first publications to highlight Chicago's bounty of hot dog stands, including detours into Italian Beef and other local delicacies.  This book made him a local and national celebrity and was followed by a feature-length television show called "Red Hot Chicago," which aired on PBS stations for many years, usually around opening day for Major League Baseball.  Rich wrote, "A hot dog is not just a hot dog in Chicago, it is a pillar of its popular culture."  He was also a frequent speaker at Chicago's Hot Dog Fest, with presentations that included "Adventures in the Wiener City," "Chicago—What a Wienerful World" and "The Chicago Hot Dog: An Urban Icon."

He was one of a kind, and he will be missed.

Private visitation Saturday, November 5, 2022 from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at Michalik Funeral Home, 1056 West Chicago Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60642.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Intuit by contacting claire@art.org or at www.art.org/support .

For further information please call 312-421-0936.