Gordon Bowker is an American entrepreneur who began his career as a writer and later co-founded

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational List of coffeehouse chains, chain of coffeehouses and Starbucks Reserve, roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gor ...

with Jerry Baldwin and

Zev Siegl Zev Siegl (born December 28, 1942) is an American keynote speaker and presenter. He co-founded Starbucks, with Gordon Bowker and Jerry Baldwin, in 1971, and was a director of the company during its first decade. Early life Zev Siegl was born o ...

. He was later a co-owner of Peet's Coffee & Tea and Redhook Ale Brewery.

Biography

Following his father's death in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Bowker was raised by his mother, Hazel Ringseth Bowker (1915-1991), in Ballard and Burien, Washington. His grandparents were Norwegian immigrants who took part in the Alaskan Gold Rush. He graduated from

O'Dea High School O'Dea High School is a Roman Catholicism, Catholic all boys high school founded in 1923 and is located in Seattle's First Hill, Seattle, First Hill neighborhood. The school is named after Edward John O'Dea who was bishop of Seattle when the sch ...

in Seattle. From 1960 to 1965, Bowker attended the

University of San Francisco The University of San Francisco (USF) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in San Francisco, California, United States. Founded in 1855, it has nearly 9,000 students pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees ...

, where he was roommates with Baldwin. Bowker dropped out eight credits away from graduation. In 1968, Bowker wrote educational film scripts for a division of King Broadcasting while making freelance contributions for ''Seattle'' magazine. He met Terry Heckler there, and the pair formed the advertising agency Heckler Bowker. Bowker met David Brewster at the magazine, years later funding the launch of Brewster's ''

Seattle Weekly The ''Seattle Weekly'' is an alternative biweekly distributed newspaper in Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded by Darrell Oldham and David Brewster as ''The Weekly.'' Its first issue was published on March 31, 1976, and it becam ...

'' and writing restaurant and hospitality reviews under the pen name Lars Henry Ringseth. In 1971, Bowker, Baldwin and Siegl opened the first Starbucks near

Pike Place Market Pike Place Market is a Marketplaces#Types, public market in Seattle, Washington, United States. It opened on August 17, 1907, and is one of the oldest continuously operated public farmers' markets in the United States. Overlooking the Elliott B ...

. In 1984, Starbucks acquired Peet's Coffee & Tea. In 1987, Bowker and Baldwin sold Starbucks to

Howard Schultz Howard D. Schultz (born July 19, 1953) is an American businessman and author who was the chairman and chief executive officer of Starbucks from 1986 to 2000, from 2008 to 2017, and interim CEO from 2022 to 2023. Schultz owned the Seattle SuperS ...

and a group of investors. Bowker then left the coffee business, but was later on Peet's

board of directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

from 1994 to 2008.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowker, Gordon Businesspeople in coffee Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Starbucks people University of San Francisco alumni Year of birth missing (living people) American people of Norwegian descent American food company founders Directors of Starbucks Drink company founders