Graduating from Thayer Academy, Braintree, Mass., in 1929, John Gowan was only 17 when he entered Harvard, earning his undergraduate degree four years later. A master's degree in mathematics followed; he then moved to Culver, Indiana, where he was employed as a counselor and mathematics teacher at Culver Military Academy from 1941-1952. Earning a doctorate from UCLA, he became a member of the founding faculty at the California State University at Northridge, where he taught from 1953 until 1975, when he retired with emeritus status.

Dr. Gowan became interested in gifted children after the Russians gained superiority in space with the 1957 launch of Sputnik. He formed the National Association of Gifted Children the following year. He was the group's executive director and president from 1975 to 1979 and over the years wrote more than 100 articles and fourteen books on gifted children, teacher evaluation, child development, and creativity.

 While at Northridge, he developed a program to train campus counselors, was nominated as outstanding professor, and had been a counselor, researcher, Fulbright lecturer, and visiting professor at various schools including the University of Singapore, the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, the University of Hawaii, and Connecticut State College.

 He also served as editor of Gifted Child Quarterly. He was a fellow of the American Psychological Association, and a colleague and Distinguished Leader of the Creative Education Foundation, Buffalo, NY. A former chairman of the board of the Thompson Construction Co., Indianapolis, he is also listed in Who's Who in The West, American Men of Science, and Leaders in Education.

 Prof. Gowan is survived by his wife, Jane, sister Alemeda and brother Bill, a son John and daughter Anne, and seven grandchildren. (As of Sept. 2001 there have been 9 great-grandchildren).