Franklin McGowan was born in Laurens. Like his father, two brothers and son, he followed a family tradition to serve the law.
He attended Presbyterian College and graduated from the University of South Carolina in 1919. While at USC, he was a member of Kappa Alpha, the varsity football team and the Historical Society. He was valedictorian of his graduating class. During World War I, he served as an infantry Second Lieutenant in the United States Army. After the war, he attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar and attended Brasenose College for the study of law from 1919 until 1921. He rowed on its crew team.
He practiced with his father in Laurens. In 1925, he became special counsel for Southern Railway Company in Columbia and began his Federal Land Bank career in 1929. He served as their General Counsel for North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida from 1947 until 1965. He often lectured on mortgages and finance at the USC Law School. He was a member of the American, South Carolina and Richland County Bar Associations.
He served as an Elder of the First Presbyterian Church of Columbia, as President of the Community Chest and the World War II Finance Committee, as County Chairman of the Rotarian, an actor in the Town Theater and as Secretary of the Rhodes Scholarship Committee.
He brought integrity, intense responsibility, compassion, and generous spirit to his work and everlasting good humor to his life. “A gentle and patient man.”