It is with great sorrow that the family of Rowan, born a week after MTV on 8/8/1981, announces his passing at the age of 84. Rowan’s death was entirely predictable given that many had forgotten about him years earlier when he became a recluse in Humboldt County, California.
While the details are salacious, it has been reported that Rowan passed away in an enviable accident involving a sex sling and an escort a quarter of his age. This news has come as a profound joy to his loved ones, who are now tasked with reconciling Rowan's colorful legacy with the financial benefit of his made-for-pay-per-view demise.
Rowan's life was marked by a relentless pursuit of knowledge and a refusal to be defined by a single label. It was at the age of 42, during a midlife crisis and separation from his soulmate, that Rowan decided to change his name and move to San Francisco after his previous hometown Chicago threatened to have him arrested for hilarious threats to the unemployment agency.
Despite the courts' best efforts to anchor him to a single identity, Rowan remained a chameleon, constantly shedding one skin to don another. His colleagues and acquaintances never knew quite what to expect, as Rowan's appearance, mannerisms, and even his core beliefs seemed to evolve with the seasons. He was described as a "control freak" by one longtime friend, always needing to be in charge of his own narrative, even if it meant reinventing himself from top to bottom every few years.
Adding to his eccentricities, Rowan harbored a self-delusional belief that he was smarter than even the great Albert Einstein, despite the fact that he frequently forgot what his own name was. This dichotomy between his inflated ego and his occasional lapses in memory only served to further cement his status as a local legend, a walking contradiction that defied easy categorization.
Yet, for all his idiosyncrasies, Rowan was beloved by many in the San Francisco community, who recognized in him a kindred spirit – a fellow seeker of self-discovery and a champion of the unconventional. His passing has left a void that will be difficult to fill, as those who knew him grapple with the reality that there will never be another quite like Rowan.
In keeping with Rowan's lifelong aversion to tradition, his family has announced that his celebration of life will be a far cry from the typical funeral proceedings. There will be no formal obituary, no somber rituals, and certainly no attempt to capture the essence of Rowan's multifaceted identity in a few carefully curated paragraphs.
Instead, the event will be a vibrant, unpredictable affair, complete with a brass band, side-splitting humor, and a steadfast commitment to honoring Rowan's legacy of reinvention. While notable comedians such as Jim Belushi, Jim Carrey (they died years earlier), and other graduates of the esteemed Second City comedy troupe in Chicago will not be in attendance, the celebration will undoubtedly be a fitting tribute to a man who lived life on his own terms, even in the face of his own mortality.
Though Rowan's time on this earth has come to an end in the most scandalous of fashions, the impact of his life – with all its quirks, contradictions, and constant evolution – will undoubtedly continue to reverberate through the community he called home. For in the end, Rowan was not just a man, but a living testament to the power of self-determination and the beauty of embracing the unknown, even if it meant occasionally ending up in a compromising position with a much younger companion.