Michael Dowling

Mike Dowling, 44, of Florence, SC, passed away Sunday, January 25th, 2026. He was born July 30th, 1981 to Linda and Bernard Dowling at McLeod in Florence.

Surviving are his Mother and Father, Linda and Bernard Dowling; his wife Andrea Maddox-Dowling and their son Aidan Dowling; his brother, Brendan Dowling, sister-in-law Danielle Dowling and his nephew and niece, Karl and Isla Dowling. He was preceded in death by his Grandparents.

Mike was brilliant when it came to anything that had to do with music or technology. His love of music started at a young age and his ability to play started with a single snare drum found at Englishtown Market in New Jersey. From there came the piano, violin, full drum kit and then he started to learn to play the bass in his later years. Not many people can play multiple stringed instruments, lay down a solid drum track, add soaring vocals on top of it, record it all and then mix and master it themselves, but Mike could. He played many parts with many different bands over the years including drums with “The Kind”, guitar with “Sapp” and “Omega Theory” and then drums with “Speakeasy” and “Tastes Like Chicken”. He also sat in with many other bands and artists over the years.

Mike attended West Florence High School, however, he dropped out because music was his passion and High School was moving too slow for him. He instead ended up touring with “The Kind” and then later he went to Poyner Adult Education and received his diploma within a few months. When he was still in school, he attended Cannon Music Camp during the summers and was battling for first chair violin in orchestra. His Senior year, he became first chair and was battling one of his later-to-be best friends, Blane McCrackin (RIP), who was second chair at the time.

Mike later attended classes at Florence Darlington Technical College where he worked on getting his earliest certifications in Information Technology. He received his A+, Network+, Server+, and many other Microsoft and Cisco certifications over the years. Mike started out at the bottom in the I.T. Industry working your basic helpdesk issues and over the course of 20 years worked his way up to a Network Engineer and then Director of I.T. and was always keeping up with new technologies when they emerged.

Mike loved animals. When he went to the YMCA camp over summers during his childhood he chose to care for the horses as one of his “chores”. He had many animals in his life over the years with Jack the black lab being the first. The loss of his cat Tidus hit him hard and stuck with him until the end. Hopefully he is holding Tidus right now. If you go to the Florence Area Humane Society you will find a brick in the sidewalk dedicated to Tidus.

Memorials may be made to the Florence Area Humane Society. Visitation will be open to all from 5 - 8 P.M. Friday, February 6th at Stoudenmire-Dowling Funeral Home in Florence, SC.