Is Sir Michael Fowler Still Alive?

Sir Edward Michael Coulson Fowler  was a New Zealand architect and author who served as mayor of Wellington.

Sir Fowler served as mayor of Wellington from 1974 to 1983.

Is Sir Michael Fowler still alive? Sir Michael Fowler is not alive. He died on July 12, 2022 aged 92.

He was born on 19 December 1929 in Marton, to parents William Coulson Fowler and Faith Agnes Netherclift.

Sir Michael Fowler Architect

Sir Fowler began his career in 1954 at the London office of Ove Arup and Partner, and became an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1955.

He returned to New Zealand in 1957, working initially as a self-employed architect in Wellington, and in partnership (Calder, Fowler, Styles and Turner) from 1959 to 1989.

In the early 1960s, Fowler designed the Wellington Overseas Passenger Terminal, which was to have served international passenger ships, but never saw its intended use due to the rising popularity of air travel.

In an interview many years later, he said that he “was party to the design of the biggest white elephant that Wellington ever built”.

Fowler was elected a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Architects in 1970.

Sir Michael Fowler Mayor

Fowler was elected mayor of Wellington in 1974, in a very tight race with long-serving incumbent Sir Frank Kitts, a post that he held until he retired in 1983.

Fowler’s 1977 re-election campaign was against local transgender entertainer Carmen Rupe, who ran with the support of local businessman Bob Jones with the slogans “Get in behind” and “Carmen for Mayor” and a platform of gay marriage and legalized brothels (although neither of these are local-government matters in New Zealand).

In the lead-up to the 1984 general election, Fowler was speculated as a contender for the National Party nomination for the Wellington Central electorate.

He admitted he had been invited by the party’s electorate chairman to stand, but had declined to run.