By KATHY MATHESON
Courier-Post Staff
CAMDEN

Those who know Joseph Bowen as a neighbor and friend say he is a good guy, but his relationships at work appear to have been less than pleasant.

Bowen, shot and beaten Monday morning in an apparent attempted murder-suicide, is a key witness in an investigation of his former employer, the Camden Parking Authority. The agency's former executive director, Anthony Scarduzio, died the same day from an apparently self- inflicted shotgun wound to the head.

Bowen, 50, was in in critical but stable condition at Cooper Hospital/University Medical Center in Camden on Tuesday night.

Bowen filed a lawsuit last fall in which he claimed the authority was involved in bid-rigging, money laundering and fiscal mismanagement.

It was not the first time he had sued an employer.

In the mid-1980s, Bowen worked as a videotape specialist at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. He filed a federal lawsuit in 1987 against the Department of the Navy, alleging he was suffering retaliation for lodging equal employment opportunity complaints.

Judge Joseph McGlynn Jr. found Bowen's case groundless, ruling in favor of the Navy. In fact, McGlynn wrote in his decision that Bowen was the one retaliating for perceived slights.

"It appears that Mr. Joseph Bowen Jr. embarked on a course of conduct designed to intimidate and harass the shipyard Command Security personnel with the single-minded and avowed purpose of destroying the career of the Command Security Chief, as well as the subordinate personnel," McGlynn wrote.

In May 1997, Bowen was hired as a property manager at the Camden Parking Authority, an independent city agency that oversees and operates two garages, 10 lots and 800 meters. He was fired in August 2000. Two months later, Bowen and co- worker Thomas Del Rosario filed a 50-page lawsuit in state Superior Court alleging they suffered retaliation for blowing the whistle on what they claimed was illegal activity at the agency.

Scarduzio, who headed the authority at that time, denied the accusations and said Bowen and Del Rosario simply were disgruntled employees.

"They neglected their duties," Scarduzio said. "They were a disgrace, these guys."

Such friction between Bowen and Scarduzio was an about- face from what has been described as a close friendship.

Scarduzio also claimed Bowen attempted to steer business to his personal associates, and Scarduzio said he gave evidence of it to the Camden County Prosecutor's Office last fall.

Greg Reinert, spokesman for the prosecutor's office, could not confirm or deny Tuesday whether Scarduzio turned over such evidence. He added that any information would have been forwarded to the state Attorney General's Office.

While Bowen may have had rocky relationships with employers, he seemed to have no problems with his neighbors on Di's Court in the Severan development of Washington Township. They said he was once active in the homeowners association and was the subcontractor who landscaped the development when it was built.

"He's always been a worker in the neighborhood," said Robert Poksay, a retired eye doctor who lives across the street from Bowen's townhome. "He's always very pleasant."

Bowen has a wife, Joan; a daughter, Dana, 22; and a son, Nicholas, 14. He also operates a landscaping business and keeps his equipment in three trailers in a field behind the ice cream parlor where he was beaten and shot.

Bowen owns the ice cream parlor and the house next door, where Warren Plank is the tenant. It was Plank who called 9- 1-1 when Bowen showed up bloody on his doorstep Monday.

"I hope he's OK," Plank said. "He's a real nice, mild- mannered person who never bothers you. He's just a great guy."