Rowlett was born in Rose Hill, Lee County, Virginia and attended Emory & Henry College in Emory, Virginia. In 1929 he received a bachelor's degree in mathematics and chemistry. He was hired by William Friedman as a "junior cryptanalyst" for the Signals Intelligence Service (SIS) on April Fool’s Day, 1930; shortly after, he was followed into SIS by Abraham Sinkov and Solomon Kullback. Rowlett has been inducted into the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame. Frank Rowlett died June 29, 1998, at age 90.