Robert "Doc" Lowry of Palm Coast peacefully passed on December 29, 2023 at age 92. Robert and his wife Sally (nee Verna) having spent their professional lives and rearing a family in Davenport, Iowa, retired to Palm Coast, Florida. There they completed and settled in their dream home in 2004. They enjoyed 10 years in it together and Robert remained there for another 10 years of widowhood. He was cared for and comforted at his home by the wonderful neighbors of the C-Section as well as a multitude of caregivers and therapists provided through Concierge Care and Concierge Home Health Services. His family remains grateful for all of them, especially Ms. Flor Sanchez of Orange City, Florida.

Robert was active in the Palm Coast area presenting and campaigning for the FAIR TAX (www.fairtax.org) initiative for many years. He and Sally established the "Robert W Lowry DO and Verna L Lowry CRNA Endowed Scholarship" at his alma mater, the Des Moines University (formerly College of Osteopathic Medicine). The scholarship honors service to one's country by requiring its recipients to serve in the military for four years. Robert had joined the U.S. Navy at age 17 and trained at its Hospital Corps School at the Naval Training Center in Bainbridge, Maryland. His experiences as a Fleet Marine combat corpsman motivated him to become a physician.

In 1967, the U.S. Department of Defense started offering commissions to osteopathic physicians; he applied and was accepted as the second D.O. ever to be commissioned. Later his MD colleagues of the hospital staff he was privileged to serve in Davenport, Iowa elected him as the first D.O. to chair their anesthesiology department.

Robert is survived by his three children and affectionate four-legged companion. Memorials to his honor may be made to Doctors without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres). https://donate.doctorswithoutborders.org/secure/donate