Meet James Lowman, retired senior vice president, Southwest Gas Corporation
Marcia and James Lowman were high school sweethearts. They grew up in Las Vegas back when it still had the small town feel – 120,000 residents. Having been together for more than 40 years, Jim and Marcia moved to Phoenix in 1989.

Jim Lowman with his guitar collection.

After moving to Arizona, Lowman found ASU and became involved with the W.P. Carey School of Business. Lowman always has been fascinated by education with a special interest in business education. When ASU formed the President’s Club, Jim and Marcia jumped on the opportunity to become even more involved and establish a strong relationship with Lattie Coor, president of ASU at the time.

“Lattie is wonderful,” Lowman says. “He is an excellent liaison for the community who really built the foundation that has helped to support Michael Crow’s success. Crow has taken ASU to the next level with his vision for the University. He has a unique ability to translate intellectual practice into something that can be of value in the world. Education must be translatable. For example, the study of the arts translates into the final completed piece, and the ability to take part in the cultural aspect of our community, scientific research into a product or a process that improves an existing model. This is one of Michael Crow’s major contributions to ASU.”

Through past collaborations with ASU and his work on the board of the Phoenix Symphony, Lowman was exposed to the Herberger College. He and his wife are active art collectors and over time became friends with Tom Fay, emeritus director of development for the Herberger College.

Their long-lived relationship with ASU and friendships built within the Herberger College in particular make Jim and Marcia feel it is a great place to put their money. “My wife and I are fortunate to have been blessed with opportunity and success,” Lowman says. “We choose to help in areas that we feel are important, and education, whether giving to the Scottsdale School Distinct in honor of Marcia’s work as a librarian in the Arcadia School Systems, or to ASU, we feel this is the future.”

The arts have always been a part of Lowman’s life. Music in particular runs in the family. His daughter Jillian was a violist and alumna of ASU Herberger College School of Music. She graduated in 1999 with a minor in business and works for Cox communications in Community Affairs.  His daughter Dawn is a medical doctor today but was also an accomplished cellist.

“I feel supporting the discretionary funds through our President Club’s annual gifts helps the deans of the arts college and business school direct the money where our giving can be best leveraged and utilized,” Lowman says. “It is important for a university as large as ASU to build a broad base of support, and not just focus on major gifts. All ranges of giving have an opportunity to make an impact here.”

Having retired in 2006 from Southwest Gas after more than 30 years with the company, Lowman is now devoting more time to his artistic interests in printing and sculpture. Lowman is building LeafDogPress.com, a Web site he hopes to launch by the end of the year. The site will be an online resource for Lowman’s business friends, many of whom are unsung artists who want a chance to show their work to a broader audience. The new site will include some of Lowman’s artistic work as well.

“You can take a person out of business, but you can’t take the business out of a person,” Lowman laughs. “I have always enjoyed collecting photography and art prints, but I never imagined that one day I would be doing them creatively.”