Seth Watkins Bowen passed away unexpectedly in Aliso Viejo on May 29, 2015.
Bowen was a Laguna Beach resident for 19 years. He was 54.
Born in Buffalo, N.Y., Seth graduated from Nichols School in 1979 and the University of Arizona in 1984 with a degree in finance and accounting as well as being the tennis team captain.
Bowen led an exciting life full of travel to Africa, Europe and Australia while he toured and played on the professional tennis circuit and held an Association of Tennis Professionals ranking of No. 409 in singles and No. 334 in doubles in the world. He was also inducted into the Buffalo Tennis Hall of Fame in 2006.
After moving to Southern California, he became an international marketing director and top money earner with Equinox International, which became a Fortune 500 company. He was instrumental in building that from the ground up to over 500 offices nationwide and into Mexico.
Bowen’s love for modeling, movies and acting drove him to pursue a short career in Hollywood appearing on the show “Zero to Hero” and became a member of the Screen Actors Guild.
Bowen had many wonderful accomplishments in his life, however, the greatest of them all was fathering his beautiful son, Sterling, 17, whom he was devoted to. Their time was spent together playing and watching sports, going to the beach, playing board games and ping-pong, eating out, and most of all sharing intimate father-son time talking, teaching life lessons, laughing and sharing stories. They loved each other deeply.
Bowen touched the lives of many. He was deeply ingrained in the tennis community, belonging to The Palisades Tennis Club for many years where he built lifelong friendships. Bowen’s faith was strong and he loved his church and the many relations he’d built throughout the years. He had an infectious laugh that was heard from afar and was well known for his “Seth-isms!”
Bowen is survived by his adoring son Sterling Chase Dudley-Bowen, his devoted mother Elizabeth Ann Bowen, his loving brothers Lee, Scot, Kent and Eric. He was preceeded in death by his father Henry May Bowen and brother Karl Bowen.
Services will be held Saturday, June 6, at 5:30 p.m. at Laguna Presbyterian Church, 415 Forest Ave. in Laguna Beach, followed by a reception in Tankersley Hall.
