Diagnosed with early-stage Alzheimer’s in August 2025, Greg Rowland refused to let the disease define his future.
Today, Greg uses his lifelong passion for communication to chronicle his journey with transparency and humor.
Whether through his rapidly growing Substack blog or his live presentations, Greg offers a rare, first-hand perspective on navigating research, side effects, and the emotional realities of the 'long goodbye'—all while maintaining a fierce commitment to living a full, self-sufficient life."
Greg Rowland's Story
Childhood
Greg was born in Spartanburg, South Carolina in 1957 to Vernon and Betty Rowland. Greg has a brother and a sister, Glenn and LeAnne. Another sister (Jane) died in 2010.
His dad was an entrepreneur and a small business owner. Over a sixty-year period, Vernon Rowland owned and operated several full-service gas stations, home fuel oil delivery company, and various automotive repair shops.
Greg inherited the entrepreneurial spirit and at the age of 12, he joined a 4H program raising chickens. He started a company called Greg’s Eggs and sold fresh eggs to schoolteachers, neighbors, and family.
The Work Years
After college, Greg accepted a job as the Assistant Director of the Media Department at the South Carolina School for the Deaf and the Blind. Later, he moved to Greenwich, Connecticut to become a self-employed sales representative for three Atlanta-based companies.
In the mid 1980’s, Greg accepted a sales executive role at SAS Video Productions (a division of SAS Institute) in Cary, North Carolina.
Greg's job at SAS Video Productions required extensive travel throughout the United States as he successfully brought large video and film projects to SAS, including Chevrolet dealer commercials, Comedy Central promotional commercials, and numerous national infomercials.
In 1993, Greg took a senior management job at Textile Clothing Textile Corporation (TC2) in Cary, North Carolina. This new opportunity combined his media production experience, entrepreneurial spirit, and his love of travel. Greg managed TC2’s interactive training group. Over forty training programs were developed in a three-year period. These bilingual (Spanish and English) programs taught industrial sewing machine repair to Mexican employees at American owned apparel manufacturing companies located in Mexico.
At the completion of the project, TC2 offered to sell their interactive training and video production group to Greg and three other employees.
MindWorks Multimedia Inc was born. Over the next few years, Greg bought out his three partners and the company expanded. Clients included Brother International, BB&T bank, and numerous pharmaceutical companies.
In the mid 2000’s, MindWork's largest client (United Therapeutics Corporation) hired Greg and his team to produce their international sales meeting in Hawaii. This meeting involved about 175 sales representatives coming together for a week of training, networking, and participating in a community service project.
MindWorks Multimedia had responsibility for all technical, production, and content presentations for the event. Additionally, Greg developed and managed the community service project. Over the next five years, United Therapeutics contracted with MindWorks to produce and manage four annual meetings and dozens of small Physician Advisory meetings.
In 2012, Greg closed MindWorks for a variety of personal and business reasons. He later owned and operated a successful online retail business until 2020.
In July 2021, Greg and his wife started a small handyman services company. It grew, and its service offerings expanded over the next few years.
The business was closed in the autumn of 2025 after Greg was diagnosed with early stage Alzheimer's disease.
Teenage Years & College
Greg joined the Boy Scouts and eventually earned the rank of Eagle. At the age of 18, Greg became a South Carolina Emergency Medical Technician For about three years, he served as a volunteer EMT with a local fire department. At the same time, he became involved in the television ministry at First Baptist Church in Spartanburg. This experience led to a part-time job at WSPA TV. During college, he worked in various roles at WSPA ranging from studio camera operator to field producer for a children’s program.
Growing up, Greg always worked on weekends and during the summer in the family business. He learned a great deal about managing a business, and the value of hard work from his father.
Community Service
Greg was active in the Durham North Carolina community from the early 1990's until 2012. He served on several nonprofit organizations Board of Directors. This included serving as the Chairman of the Board for Urban Ministries of Durham. Urban Ministries operates a homeless shelter, community kitchen, and substance abuse rehabilitation programs.