William Rowland, president of Oceanic Institute, dead at 80

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

William C. Rowland, an Army veteran and former president of Hawaiian Telephone and the Oceanic Institute, died Oct. 20. He was 80.

William Rowland earned the Distinguished Flying Cross for his service in the Army Air Corps.

As a lieutenant in the 458th Bomb Group stationed in England, he completed 32 missions as the pilot of a B-24 bomber. Rowland earned the Distinguished Flying Cross for his service.

Following the war, he earned a degree in math and worked as a telephone installer for Bell Telephone. He joined General Telephone & Electric Co. in 1949, but his career was interrupted when he was recalled to active duty during the Korean War.

In 1952, he returned to GTE and in 1962 he was promoted to vice president of the company's Indiana division. Although he kept busy with his professional life, Rowland also served as an artillery instructor and taught at the U.S. Army War College while with the Army Reserve in the 1950s and 1960s.

In 1967, Rowland was named president of GTE of Illinois. Five years later he became president of Hawaiian Telephone, then a subsidiary of GTE.

Rowland retired from the telephone business in 1982 as executive vice president of GTE's Telephone Operating Group in Stamford, Conn.

His retirement was short-lived, however, as he took the post of president and chairman of the Oceanic Institute in 1982. The nonprofit organization at Makapu'u Point is a fully integrated research and development institution focusing on applied aquaculture, marine biotechnology and environmental enhancement of coastal marine resources.

When he took over, Oceanic Institute had about 50 employees and a budget of $1 million. The institute currently employs close to 100 and has an annual budget of $6 million.

"He recognized the need to use the state support that we were getting as seed to get federal grants to make us more competitive in the federal grant arena," said Gary Karr, Oceanic's training and education program manager. "That was a real catalyst for the institute to go from being a very small staff — tenure was very short for the most part — to where people could actually look at the institute as a place for a career."

The institute also gained national and international recognition for its work in aquaculture.

Rowland retired from Oceanic Institute in 1996.

In addition to his professional life, Rowland was active with the Aloha United Way. He also was awarded the Army's highest civilian medal for his role in establishing the U.S. Army Museum at Fort DeRussy.

Rowland is survived by his wife, Leah; sister, Beryl; sons, Lawrence and Robert; and grandchildren, Beau and Kitri.

Services have been held.