Longtime columnist for the Richmond Times-Dispatch newspaper.
Marriage lasted 58 years.
He is survived by his wife of 58 years, Ann Webb McDowell, two daughters-Jennifer M. McDowell Pellegrini of Potomac, Maryland and Catie McDowell of Boulder, Colorado, and a son, William McDowell of Missoula, Montana.
He graduated from Washington and Lee University with a Bachelor's Degree and a Master's degree from the Columbia University School of Journalism in New York City.