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Former Regent of the University of Michigan and daughter of Judge Carl McGowan passes away at the age of 68

The staff at Salzburg Global are sad to learn of the death of longtime supporter and generous donor Rebecca McGowan, who passed away last month at the age of 68.

Rebecca was a former University of Michigan Regent and longtime aide to U.S. Vice-President Walter Mondale.

She was also the daughter of former Salzburg Global Seminar Board Member Judge Carl McGowan and continued to share his generosity by contributing toward many of Salzburg Global’s initiatives.

Rebecca became involved in Vice-President Mondale’s election campaign in 1980 after he was selected by then-Governor Jimmy Carter to be his running mate. Following the election, she became one of his two initial staff members. She went on to serve as his deputy campaign manager for his 1984 Presidential campaign.

In 1992, she was elected as Regent of the University of Michigan and was re-elected in 2000 to serve a second eight-year term. During this time, Rebecca, also known as “Beckie,” was a staunch advocate for LGBTQ rights and helped lead efforts to change the University’s policies. She also backed the University’s affirmative action admissions policies and the litigation which resulted in formative opinions by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Her father, Judge Carl McGowan, served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia from 1963 until his death in 1987. He was on Salzburg Global Seminar’s Board of Directors in the 1970s and 1980s and served as a faculty member for four sessions about the U.S. legal system.

In 1993, a room adjacent to the Max Reinhardt Library inside Schloss Leopoldskron was dedicated to Carl McGowan. Today, the McGowan Room continues to serve as a venue for work group discussions during sessions.

A celebration of Rebecca’s life will take place on Saturday, June 3, 2017, at 4 pm at the Horace H. Rackham Amphitheater, Fourth Floor, Ann Arbor, Michigan, followed by a reception.

Instead of flowers, well-wishers are recommended to provide donations to The Centre for Education of Women at the University of Michigan, Glacier National Park Conservancy, or Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

To learn more about Rebecca’s life, please click here.