J. Ronald Bowman, a retired judge of Lucas County Common Pleas Court and a retired Army National Guard major general, who as a Korean War combat veteran spoke out to keep public attention on the sacrifices of his comrades, died Friday in Hospice of Northwest Ohio, South Detroit Avenue. He was 86.

He became ill at his South Toledo home two weeks ago and had two heart attacks while in University of Toledo Medical Center, the former Medical College of Ohio Hospital, his daughter Brenda said.

His wife of more than 62 years, Joan, died Nov. 8.

“Once she passed, he was just lost. That was his companion,” their daughter said. “They were each other’s sounding board.”

Judge Bowman retired in 2004 from Common Pleas court. He was named to the Lucas County bench in 1989 by then-Gov. Richard Celeste. The previous two years he was a Toledo Municipal Court judge, the first elected to have housing court duties.

Until 2015, he was a visiting judge by appointment of the Ohio Supreme Court to venues across northwest Ohio.

Unlike others who don judicial robes, “I don’t think he ever took himself too seriously,” said Andy Douglas, a retired Ohio Supreme Court justice, who was in ROTC and then in law school with Judge Bowman, both at the University of Toledo.

“He worked things out through compromise when he could, rather than directives,” Mr. Douglas said. “I’m very, very sad, because he was an ultimate gentleman, and always had a story. He was a plain good guy.”

As a result of his military background, “he was very straightforward,” said Lucas County Common Pleas Judge James Bates, a close friend for more than 25 years. Attorneys in the county looked up to Judge Bowman for his intelligence and legal abilities, but also his service to the country.

“I always referred to him as ‘General,’ out of respect for him,” said Judge Bates, who went on vacations and golf outings with Judge Bowman for years. “He was very normal. He wasn’t a real egghead, like some attorneys try to make themselves look better than the people they’re dealing with. He was fun to be around and joked around a lot.”

Judge Bowman retired from Ohio Army National Guard in 1990. As a major general, he commanded all Ohio Army National Guard troops and reported to the state’s adjutant general. In 1995, he became the first service member from northwest Ohio to be inducted into the Ohio National Guard Military Hall of Fame. He served in each Army rank, from private through field-grade officer and a general officer-of-the-line, during his military career.

“He had a focus and a drive that I haven’t seen in a lot of people, to have successful careers, and these two major careers,” his daughter Brenda said.

James Ronald Bowman, the son of Mary Margaret and Lawrence Bowman, was born July 2, 1930, in Bucyrus, Ohio. The family later settled in South Toledo. He was a 1948 graduate of Libbey High School, where he played football.

He enlisted in the Army at age 18 and served in the Korean War. He reflected on his wartime service in an essay on The Blade’s Pages of Opinion on the first Ohio Korean War Veterans Day in 1996. Despite all his military experiences afterward, Judge Bowman wrote that “nothing is so indelibly engraved in my memory as my infantry rifle company in Korea as a young Army officer.”

He was decorated five times for his service in the war, including the Bronze Star.

“It was the coldest war and the forgotten war,” he told The Blade in 1995, as President Clinton prepared to dedicate a memorial in Washington to Korean War veterans.

In his robe, presiding at a naturalization ceremony, or in uniform at Memorial Day and veterans’ events, Judge Bowman readily spoke of bravery and service and freedom — “reminding people of the sacrifices that the military makes to keep this country as great as it is. He didn’t want people to forget,” his daughter said. By one count, he’d delivered more than 200 addresses.

“America meant so much to him,” his daughter said. “He knew a lot of soldiers who never returned or some who did but were never the same.”

During his post-Korean War service, Judge Bowman was military commander following the Palm Sunday, 1965, tornado that tore through West Toledo and Point Place and in the aftermath of the blizzard of 1978. He also was commander as the National Guard responded to prison riots and other turmoil, but he found the hardest duty to be civil disturbances and protests, “because those were our people we were facing,” he told The Blade in 1990.

He received a bachelor of business administration degree in 1954 from UT and, attending night classes, his law degree in 1959. He was a graduate of the Army Command and Staff College and National Defense University. He was founder in Toledo of the former law firm of Bowman, Abel, Raitz, and Cox.

He was a past president of the Toledo Bar Association and of the Toledo Junior Bar Association and was the first president of the Lucas County Democratic Lawyers Bar Association. From 1971-87, he was a special council to the Ohio attorney general. He was a past president of the Toledo police pension board.

A member of the Scottish Rite and Zenobia Shrine, he was a 33rd Degree Mason.

He and his wife married April 24, 1954.

Surviving are his daughters Cynthia Oyler and Brenda Ridl; son, James R. “Jamie” Bowman, Jr.; brother, Thomas Bowman; four grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

Visitation will be from 5-8 p.m. Monday and from 2-8 p.m. Tuesday at the Coyle Funeral Home, where funeral services will be at 1 p.m. Wednesday.

The family suggests tributes to Hospice of Northwest Ohio, the UT college of law, or a charity of the donor’s choice.

Contact Mark Zaborney at: mzaborney@theblade.com or 419-724-6182.

First Published April 23, 2017, 4:00 a.m.