R. Crosby
Kemper, Jr. was born February 22, 1927
into an influential banking and railroading family in Kansas City, Missouri.
Both his father and grandfather were very successful in their
professional endeavors. Mr. Kemper was born in Kansas City and
lived there until about the age of sixteen. He attended
Southwest High School in Kansas City until he transferred to
Phillips Academy in Massachusetts. Professors and classmates
were enthralled with his charisma and ability to communicate
with people. He won the school’s coveted Carr Award for
excellence in public speaking.
After
graduating from prep school he served his country in the US
Navy for two years at the conclusion of World War II. He was
first stationed in St. Louis before being sent over to the
Finger Lakes in Japan. After returning home, Mr. Kemper
enrolled in the University of Missouri-Columbia following in
his father's footsteps, R. Crosby Kemper Sr., who played
football at M.U. He was married while in college to Cynthia
Warrick-Kemper, the daughter of a lawyer. In 1950, he went to
work for the United Missouri Bank, which is now UMB Bank of
Kansas City. He was hired by his father at the young age of
22. He began his career in banking as a night transit where
he met trains and sorted checks. After six months he move to
assistant cashier yet quickly advanced to assistant vice
president and made executive vice president in 1955. By 1956
he was elected into the bank’s board of directors. At that
time he was the only board member under 50 years of age. He
later became president in 1959.
In 1962 he
ran for the U.S. Senate on the Republican card, this however
was unusual due to his strong Democratic family. He put up a
better fight than most thought he would, he was ultimately
defeated by Edward Long. Kemper’s loss of votes were mainly
in St. Louis were there were allegations of Democratic voter
fraud. Teamsters gave millions of dollars to Ed Long’s 1962
Senate race against Kemper and since then Long was discredited
for using his office to shield Teamster president Jimmy Hoffa.
In the
same year chaired the Kansas City Industrial Committee. He is
still very active in the running of The Kemper Art Museum,
which was named in his honor. Although he never obtained a
degree from MU, he received an honorary degree from William
Jewel College. Some of his other community involvements
consist of charitable donations to the building of the
American Royal in 1972; the arena next to the American Royal
in 1974 which is named R. Crosby Kemper Memorial Arena; and in
1974 gave $5 millions to the performing arts center on the
campus on University of Missouri – Kansas City, this gift was
the largest single private donation in the history of the
university system – UMKC called the facility the Enid Jackson
Kemper Center for the Performing Arts in honor of Kemper’s
mother. In 1981 he pressured area corporations and banks for
$33 million in loan commitments to finance the Vista
International Hotel future site at 12th and
Wyandotte. Months later, Kemper stepped in to bail out the
Kansas City Philharmonic from closure due to their
underwritten debt through support of UMB, family charity, and
his own personal resources.
Brother in
KAI and another Zeta Phi Wall of Fame member, Samuel M.
Walton, often referred to Mr. Kemper as his "personal banker."
Mr. R.
Crosby Kemper III, the son of the great Zeta Phi, is now
currently the president of UMB Banks of St. Louis. His father
will turn seventy two at the end of February and is still at
the office bright and early every morning with no thoughts of
retiring any time soon. He remarried some years ago to Mrs.
Bebe Stripp-Kemper. He has seven children between his two
marriages. His son added that being named 'Mr. Kansas City' by
the Kansas City Chamber of Commerce was his father's finest
accomplishment.
