Former Kansas City Mayor Charles Wheeler dies at 96

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - One of the most iconic leaders in the history of Kansas City has died.

Charles Wheeler, a mayor for eight years from 1971-1979, died Wednesday at the age of 96.

“It’s a real loss,” former Mayor Richard Berkley said. “We ran against each other twice, but I had a great deal of respect for him. I thought he was a very committed person, a very smart guy.”

Wheeler, for whom the downtown airport is named, oversaw the opening of Kansas City International Airport, the Truman Sports Complex, Worlds of Fun, Kemper Arena and Crown Center during his tenure as Kansas City’s leading politician.

A graduate of Westport High School in 1942, Wheeler would earn his medical and law degrees from the University of Kansas and the University of Kansas City (UMKC), respectively.

“Mayor Wheeler was a statesman all Kansas Citians, Missourians, and Americans could be proud of, who in addition to his service in elective office bravely served our country in the U.S. Navy as a flight surgeon before returning to school to earn his juris doctorate,” Mayor Quinton Lucas said. “Since becoming mayor, I have been proud to call him a personal friend and a mentor. He will be missed.”

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.

Former Kansas City Mayor and current U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver released a statement on Wheeler’s death:

“Charlie Wheeler was my dear friend, an important mentor, and the most visionary Mayor in the history of our great city. During my eight years as Mayor, I was blessed to have had the likes of Charlie Wheeler, Ike Davis, and Dick Berkley as guides through the best and worst of times—and our city was better off for it.

“Having both a J.D. and an M.D., Charlie very likely was the smartest Mayor in our city’s history. And when you mix that with his daring, you get a powerful combination of genius with imagination. That was Charlie Wheeler. I will miss my friend, and the city will miss his ingenuity. We all owe him heartfelt gratitude for his public service, and I pray that his memory will be a blessing for all that had the privilege to know him.”

His wife Marjorie died in July 2019 after nearly 70 years of marriage. The two had five children.

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