Mrs. Page Roberts Gowen was elected President of the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture for 2002 – 2003. Mrs. Gowen is the first woman to be elected President in the Society’s 218 year history. During her childhood she lived on a farm in Villanova, Pennsylvania, later on a dairy farm and she currently resides on River Bend Farm in Chester County. Her interest in nature and natural sciences were derived from her father who was Director of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia and her mentor, Dr. Ruth Patrick, well known scientist in Academy of Natural Science. Mrs. Gowen was educated at the Baldwin School in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, The Gill School in Bernardsville, New Jersey and Bennett College in Millbrook, New York. Her professional experience consists of managing her physician husband’s office in Philadelphia for 30 years but her interests have been much broader.

Mrs. Gowen has served in different capacities in a number of healthcare activities including the Board of Trustees of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Delaware Valley Healthcare Council, Children’s Seashore House, The Pennsylvania Hospital and a number of Chester County civic activities. She has traveled extensively to foreign countries in pursuit of her interests in nature and agriculture. She has been a member of the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture since 1990.