'A Rowswell never quits' - 10 years ago, we lost our mayor

"A Rowswell never quits," Mayor John Rowswell used to say.

But 10 years ago on this date, on Aug. 31, 2010, the man who served a decade as Sault Ste. Marie's mayor succumbed to cancer.

Elected to the mayoralty in 2000 without prior political experience at the young age of 45, Rowswell drew on his training as a civil engineer.

He possessed an engineer’s clear vision of where he wanted to take the city and a project manager’s detailed plan for getting there.

Rowswell was easily re-elected in 2003 and 2006.

He died in office at age 55 and was followed as mayor by Debbie Amaroso in 2011 and Christian Provenzano in 2014.

“I want to recognize ‘Mayor John’ and his many years of service, and I offer our appreciation to his loved ones on the anniversary of his passing,” Mayor Provenzano told SooToday.

“John Rowswell was a tireless advocate for Sault Ste. Marie, and he served as mayor with both passion and dedication.”

”John pursued businesses and tourism opportunities for Sault Ste. Marie with tremendous determination and the John Rowswell Hub Trail is a fitting tribute to his efforts and the positive impact he had on our community," Provenzano said.

One of Mayor Rowsell’s final acts was to extend an apology to the French-speaking community for Sault Ste. Marie’s controversial 1990 French-language resolution.

English-speaking media were not made aware of the apology and did not report it at the time.