Jaime and Christopher Bowman

Jaime and Christopher Bowman Credit: Jaime Bowman

Whether he was providing financial guidance at Newsday, hiking with his wife, or cheering for the New York Giants, Christopher Bowman threw himself fully into everything he did.

“Whatever he put his mind to, he put 110 percent behind it,” said his wife, Jaime Bowman. “He was a very passionate guy.”

Bowman died on Tuesday, March 10, succumbing to complications of pancreatic cancer. The former Newsday financial analyst was 39 years old.

There was probably nothing Bowman was more passionate about than supporting his family. He taught his younger brother Brian about loyalty, called his father Paul, a Navy veteran, on military holidays, and helped his family pick out their dog.

“He was my hero because of what he went through. I couldn’t have asked for a better son,” said his mother, Ella Bowman, of Moriches. “He was so kind and loving and always there for us whenever we needed him.”

When he looked at members of his family, he had a “twinkle in his eye,” said Arden Leder, Bowman’s mother-in-law.

“He loved his family,” said Leder, of Delray Beach, Florida. “When my husband had a stroke, he was there everyday. When he had to be operated on, Chris and Jaime were there at 4 a.m. before he went to the hospital. They were family people.”

Bowman was born Aug. 19, 1980, in Oceanside, where he spent his childhood playing Little League baseball and trumpet in the marching band at Oceanside High School where he graduated in 1998.  He earned his bachelor's degree in business administration from Hofstra University in 2005.

On Nov. 13, 2006, he began his career at Newsday as an associate financial analyst in the operations department. Also starting that day — and sitting in the cubicle next to him — was Jaime Leder. She would eventually become Jaime Bowman.

“What stood out was his kindness and his love for life. He had a very big heart,” said Jaime Bowman. “He was a remarkable man to me and my love only grew for him.”

Bowman eventually moved to the planning department where he assumed the role of a financial analyst for four years. He left Newsday in 2012 to take a position as a business planning manager at Cablevision, now called Altice USA.

“He helped bridge the gap between the financial language and the operations language,” said Rob Fiore, Newsday’s director of financial planning and analysis, who served as Bowman’s supervisor from 2008 to 2012. “He was a good employee who looked at the bigger picture.”

After seven years of dating, Jaime and Chris were married in 2014. Just six months into their marriage, Bowman was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Despite the discouraging diagnosis, Bowman remained hopeful. He surrounded himself with family and went on vacations with Jaime. He taught himself French and Spanish, as well as how to play the guitar. The couple also rescued a pitbull-boxer mix named Sadie, who quickly became Bowman’s shadow.

Bowman was also a huge history buff, filling bookshelves in his Commack home with titles about American history, presidents and wars. He was particularly fascinated by World War II and those who had lived through the experience. He was once so amazed by a veteran he met at a museum that he asked to take a picture with him.

“He retained this wealth of knowledge about the most obscure things,” said Jaime Bowman. “He would constantly tell me stories about what happened during the war. I loved learning from him.”

Bowman is survived by his wife, Jaime, his parents, Paul and Ella, and his brother, Brian. 

Visitation will be on Friday, March 13 between 2 and 4 p.m. and 7 and 9 p.m. at Commack Abbey Inc. in Commack. Funeral mass will be held on Saturday, March 14 at 9:30 a.m. at Christ the King Roman Catholic Church in Commack, with burial following at St. Charles Cemetery in Farmingdale.


 

A new style of bowling, the Agostino family tradition on the hardwood and the wrestling championships in Nassau and Suffolk in the latest episode of 'Sarra Sounds Off." Credit: Newsday/Mario Gonzalez; Jonathan Singh, James Tamburino

SARRA SOUNDS OFF: A new style of bowling that works  A new style of bowling, the Agostino family tradition on the hardwood and the wrestling championships in Nassau and Suffolk in the latest episode of 'Sarra Sounds Off."

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