TODD LOWRY

Stanley Todd Lowry, 95, died April 10, 2023, at his home in Lexington after a brief illness.

Todd was born on June 26, 1927, to Dr. Willis Edwards Lowry Jr. and Dr. Ruby South Lowry in Laredo, Texas. The second oldest of five children, he had a keen interest in the world around him and in growing things, an interest he probably acquired from his mother.

Rendered legally blind by a childhood accident, he spent three months at The Johns Hopkins Hospital undergoing surgeries in an attempt to restore his eyesight. During that time, his mother read a wide variety of books to him, perhaps setting the stage for his continuing interest in learning.

Determined not to be limited by his disability, Todd furthered his education, leaving Laredo at the age of 15 with a seeing-eye dog and earned liberal arts and law degrees, both from the University of Texas. He then went on to earn an MA in economics

with a minor in cultural and physical geography (natural resources) at Louisiana State University, followed by a doctorate in economics, focusing on the history of economic thought with specialties in cultural and physical geography and forest economics.

Beginning in the mid 1940s, he became active in the civil rights movement and supported efforts to promote desegregation and equal treatment of all for the rest of his life.

While at the University of Texas, he met and married Faye Cole Lowry on July 9, 1948. Her dedication and support as an editor, reader and typist were invaluable in support of his academic career. Faye died in 2018.

Todd’s first teaching job was at East Carolina State University in 1958-59. A memorable event during that year was when he discovered a large log along a riverbank and carved it into a dugout canoe. That canoe moved with the Lowrys to their Rockbridge County farm and was washed away by a flood, only to be later discovered downstream and identified as an “ancient Indian canoe.”

In the fall of 1959, Todd and his family moved to Lexington, where he joined the faculty at Washington and Lee. They lived in the W&L prefab apartments alongside the Nelson Street bridge but within a couple of years he and Faye purchased an old farm 10 miles from town off Turkey Hill Road. There, renovating the 1829 farmhouse, raising livestock and a garden, and planting pine trees and nut orchards augmented Todd’s intellectual pursuits.

Academically, he continued his interest and research in the field of the history of Greek and Roman economic ideas. He served as long-time book editor of the History of Economics journal and authored “The Archaeology of Economic Ideas” (Duke University Press, 1988) and co-edited, with Barry Gordon, a collection of essays, “Ancient and Medieval Economic Ideas and Concepts of Social Justice” (Leiden, Brill/ Netherlands, 1998). He also published numerous articles on Aristotelian thought in academic journals and many of his articles were included in collections published by other editors.

His last foray into the academic world occurred after his retirement from Washington and Lee when he was invited to present a lecture, “Pythagorean Mathematical Idealism and the Framing of Economic and Political Theory” at Keio University in Tokyo in 2009. Concerned that he might get hungry on the flight to Japan, he packed some of his homemade oatmeal cookies, which he ended up feeding to the tame deer at the Nara Park.

Although he was limited by severe rheumatoid arthritis and blindness, he was mentally sharp until the end and kept up with current events by constantly listening to NPR . He enjoyed being read to and recent book topics included Genghis Khan, Islamic culture, indentured servitude, Leonardo da Vinci, the path to freedom enslaved people sought in Mexico in the 1860s, and the history of early Native American tribes and their interactions with East Coast settlers. He always enjoyed receiving visitors and never stopped having plans for what he wanted to do at the farm.

Todd is survived by his daughter, Lynn Lowry Leech (Rick) of Lexington and son, Dr. Timothy Cole Lowry (Diane) of Ames, Ind.; five grandchildren, Sarah Todd LaBruce (Laurence), Mary Catherine “Kate” Hurt (Chris), Dr. Jennifer Lowry Erbes (Ben), Dr. Luke Lowry, Dr. Lydia Lowry Spray (Kent); and 11 great-grandchildren.

There will be no funeral, but the family will receive friends to celebrate Todd’s life from 1 to 5 p.m. on May 6 at the home of his daughter, Lynn Leech, at 6 Westside Court in Lexington.

Memorial gifts may be made in his honor to Rockbridge Conservation. N-G