Des Moines Water Works leader Bill Stowe dies at age 60

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - A man who’d been responsible for providing safe drinking water to Des Moines has died.

Sixty-year-old Bill Stowe had been CEO and general manager of Des Moines Water Works until pancreatic cancer forced him to retire April 2. Water Works board member Graham Gillette said Monday that Stowe died Sunday.

Stowe was Des Moines’ public works director for 13 years before taking his Water Works post in 2012. Water Works is an independently operated public utility providing drinking water to about 500,000 people in the greater Des Moines area.

Stowe grew up on a farm in Nevada (nuh-VAYE’-duh), Iowa, and played basketball at Grinnell College.

Gillette says his friend Stowe “was an exceptional leader, because he knew a person’s promise nearly always outweighs his past mistakes.”