Joseph R. Bowen

Joseph R. Bowen (April 22, 1950 – March 8, 2022) was an American politician from Kentucky.

Bowen was born in Evansville, Indiana and graduated from the Daviess County High School in Owensboro, Kentucky in 1968. He then graduated from University of Kentucky, in 1972, with a bachelor's degree in business administration. He worked for his family's business, the Bowen Tire Company, in Owensboro. He was only the third Republican to hold that Senate seat, formerly held by Wendell Ford from 1966 to 1967.

Bowen did not seek re-election in 2018, citing health issues as well as his support for term limits. He died at a hospital in Lexington, Kentucky on March 8, 2022, at the age of 71, from complications of a heart attack he had the previous week.