KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Former Kansas City Mayor Charles Wheeler, who oversaw a period of rapid expansion in the 1970s and whose name adorns the city's downtown airport, has died at age 96.
Current Mayor Quinton Lucas praised Wheeler in a statement as a “statesman that all Kansas Citians, Missourians, and Americans could be proud of." Wheeler died Tuesday night, said Lucas' chief-of-staff, Morgan Said, who spoke to his daughter and grandson. She said they have asked Lucas to speak at the funeral.
Said had no details about how or where he died, but KCUR reported that he died at a nursing home in Overland Park, Kansas.
Wheeler was the Kansas City mayor for two terms, from 1971 to 1979, helping spearhead development of Kemper Arena, the Bartle Hall convention center and the University of Missouri-Kansas City medical school at Hospital Hill.
In a July 2019 interview with KCUR, Wheeler said the highlight of his mayoral career was bringing the 1976 Republican National Convention to Kansas City. The convention ended with Gerald Ford beating out Ronald Reagan.
“The Republican National Convention was definitely the moment that Kansas City was launched like it hadn’t been for years — well since Truman, that is the comparison,” Wheeler said, referencing former President Harry S. Truman, who is from the Kansas City suburb of Independence, Missouri. "The media loved it. We were the media center of America.”
Wheeler, a physician, spent much of his early career as a forensic pathologist, founded Wheeler Medical Laboratories in 1963 and was elected Jackson County coroner two years later. He then served as a judge before becoming mayor.
After leaving the mayor’s office, Wheeler devoted his time to running his pathology laboratory but remained active in politics. He was elected to the state Senate in 2002 to a four-year term.
Jolie Justus, who succeeded Wheeler when he didn't seek re-election, recalled that Wheeler was adamant that it was crucial to be the smartest person in the room. “And he, I think, always was the smartest person in the room," she said.
In Wheeler's later years, he mounted several unsuccessful bids for public office, most recently seeking the Democratic nomination for governor in 2016 at the age of 89.
“Anybody who dabbles in politics walks away most of the time because it’s such hard work,” Wheeler told KCUR. “I personally thrive on that and I loved it.”
