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Obituary - Landon Rowland



The Saddlebred industry, the Kansas City area and the Rowland family lost a great man with the December 28 passing of Landon Rowland, who was 78. A well-liked gentleman in many walks of life, the 1962 Harvard Law School graduate led the expansion of Kansas City Southern Railway as part of a team that acquired a major Mexican railroad to extend Kansas City Southern’s reach.

“The other big railroads in the country are east-west operations,” said fellow Kansas City Southern board member Morton Sosland in an obituary posted on The Kansas City Star’s website. “It was important for Kansas City Southern to cement its north-south line. Landon was bold enough, as the underdog, to win the bidding for the Mexican railroad,” which was known as TFM, Transportacion Ferroviaria Mexicana Railway.

In addition to being an astute businessman, Rowland had a big heart for everything Kansas City and everything his family was involved in, especially showing American Saddlebreds. He helped establish the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum as well gave greatly of his time and resources to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and the American Royal Horse Show, among others.

Nothing made Rowland happier than to spend time with his family and extended horse show family. He was the biggest supporter of his wife Sarah, his children and grandchildren, all avid horse show enthusiasts with their Ever Glades Farm with Missy Smith as their trainer. Rowland himself got in on the action showing the five-gaited stars CH Champagne Bob, Courtier, Cara Clara and Here I Am Again, as well as the road ponies The Wizard LF and CH Heartland Smooth Operator.

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