Episode 10: Graham Cowley's Life as a San Francisco Medical Examiner

Film photography by Michelle Kilfeather

​For the majority of his professional career, Graham Cowley was a medical examiner. After a brief stint in his native England, he moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, then to San Francisco in the 1980s. He retired in 2011.

In this episode of the podcast, Graham talks about a particular call he got for a man who died on the BART tracks. Later in the episode, he shares one of his last calls, and the emotional toll that his career had taken on him. Lastly, he hails the work of a group of people he considers real heroes.

Graham was one of the subjects of Peter Hartlaub's feature about the San Francisco Medical Examiner's office back in 1999. Peter talked about his experience riding along with Graham and his colleagues in Episode 4 of Storied: San Francisco.

I was able to track Graham down thanks to a commenter on Peter's Twitter. They let us know that Graham was the subject of a documentary called Graham's Tales.

The photos above were taken in Graham's apartment on the day we recorded the podcast, in November 2017.