Kevin Rowson, a dogged reporter who specialized in crime coverage for Atlanta TV station 11Alive for 22 years, died of an unexpected, unspecified illness Saturday, according to his wife, Karen.
He was 72.
“He had no love for crime, for sure, but he was good at putting himself in the shoes of the people he was interviewing,” said Karen, who was married to Rowson for 44 years after meeting him in the small town of Fredonia in upstate New York, where they both grew up. “He cared.”
11Alive (WXIA-TV) “allowed me to do what I love, which is tell stories. I especially enjoyed crime stories,” Rowson told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2016 after he took a buyout. “They appreciated that and supported me.”
Jennifer Leslie, a reporter with him for 18 years at 11Alive, marveled over Rowson’s ability to get the scoop from sources at the Atlanta Police Department and other law enforcement agencies.
“He was almost like a TV character,” Leslie said. “He was so smart and tenacious. Working beside him, if you needed anything, Kevin would help. He was really generous with young reporters like me and set such a great example.”
He never got rattled, even when stories didn’t pan out, Leslie said. “He was not a hothead,” she said. “Calm and cool, just a really hard worker.”
Vince Velazquez, a retired APD detective, said Rowson “knew how to navigate working crime scenes and was well respected from all the homicide guys. We would always give him a little extra.”
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
John Deushane, general manager at 11Alive during the latter part of Rowson’s run at the station, said Rowson wasn’t in the business for the awards or the ego strokes of being on air.
“He was a journalist’s journalist,” Deushane said. “The story was the only important thing, not flash.”
As Leslie noted, “he was a serious journalist who never puffed up his stories.”
Rowson said his most memorable story at 11Alive was covering the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing and the aftermath until Eric Rudolph was captured and imprisoned.
A University of Detroit Mercy graduate, Rowson started in radio before switching to TV in 1984 in Charleston, South Carolina. He worked for several years at WNBC in New York City before moving to Atlanta in 1994 to work at 11Alive.
After Rowson left WXIA in 2016, he became a public affairs specialist at the FBI office in Atlanta. He appreciated the more normal hours, his wife said.
He retired in 2021 and traveled extensively with his wife, including a recent trip to Europe. He played golf, shared beers with friends and grilled extensively.
Rowson was also a lifelong Buffalo Bills fan.
“He was part of the Bills Mafia,” Karen said. “Whenever he saw someone wearing Bills paraphernalia, he’d yell out, ‘Go Bills!’ If they didn’t say it back, he knew they weren’t true fans.”
And he regularly appeared at 11Alive reunion gatherings.
“He just loved his family,” Leslie said. “He bragged about his kids. He would bring his wife to work parties when other people would keep their spouses behind. They were always together.”
His daughter, Sydney, said that despite Rowson’s terrible hours at 11Alive when she was a child, he would go out of his way to show up for school events when he could.
“He was always present and so funny,” said Sydney, who works at a clinical trial laboratory services organization. “I never doubted myself because he always believed in me.”
Rowson is survived by his wife, his daughter and his son, Alec.
A visitation is scheduled for 5-7 p.m. Fridayat Mayes Ward Dobbins Funeral Home in Marietta followed by a funeral at 11 a.m. Saturday at St. Catherine of Siena in Kennesaw.
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