In memorium: A tribute to Jim Bowles.

• Author: Kalytiak, Tracy
• Position: ALASKA BUSINESS MONTHLY'S 2010 CORPORATE 100 - Obituary

Jim Bowles was a boy in grade school when he made an album, "My Life Story," for a class assignment.

Inside a brown construction paper cover were black and white pictures of himself from his earliest years spent in Alaska, with descriptions of what he most loved about living there.

"Here I am at the age of 3 atop the snow shoveled from our driveway in Alaska. I enjoyed the snow very much. My daddy built me an igloo in my back yard, and I went sled riding often," one caption stated. Another photo showed him fishing on a creek near a bridge: "I like to fish very much. Here I am when I was four in Alaska."

Bowles eventually found his way back to the state he had loved as a boy, and, in fewer than six years as president of ConocoPhillips Alaska, made an indelible impact as a corporate business leader, philanthropist, conservation advocate and friend.

People from all those spheres mourned Bowles, 57, after he died Feb. 13 in an avalanche near Spencer Glacier, while snowmachining with friends.

University of Alaska President Mark Hamilton says he received a call about Bowles' death at 1 a.m. the following day while on a trip to California.

"It was overwhelming," Hamilton said. "My wife was just sobbing. He was just so alive. His death was shocking because he was so alive. That's why it hit everybody so hard. There was a certain amount of invincibility about him."

Bowles' life began in Fayetteville, Ark., where he later graduated from the University of Arkansas in 1974. He joined Phillips Petroleum upon graduation and moved to Odessa, Texas, where he met his wife, Kathy. The couple married in 1977 and moved to Norway, where their two daughters, Jennifer and Rebecca, were born. Over the following years, the family moved to Texas, Montana, Oklahoma, back to Norway and then to Houston, Texas.

Bowles retired as president of Phillips Americas Division in 2002 and spent time at his ranch near Kerrville, Texas, and with family in Pagosa Springs, Colo.

In 2004, he emerged from retirement to become president of ConocoPhillips Alaska.

Bowles immediately plunged into a whirl of charity and conservation endeavors. He played a critical role in ConocoPhillips' funding of the Providence Cancer Center, the Integrated Science Building at the University of Alaska Anchorage and upgTading of the Anchorage Coastal Wildlife Refuge's Potter Marsh access and facilities. He also supported the efforts of United Way of Anchorage, Covenant House, Camp Fire USA of Alaska and...