Richard L. Berkley (born Richard L. Berkowitz; June 29, 1931) is an American politician who served as the 50th

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

from 1979 to 1991. Berkley received his

undergraduate degree An undergraduate degree (also called first degree or simply degree) is a colloquial term for an academic degree earned by a person who has completed undergraduate courses. In the United States, it is usually offered at an institution of higher e ...

from Harvard University and a

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in Business Administration from

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

in 1957. His family owns the Kansas City‐based " Tension Corporation" (before 2011 "Tension Envelope Corporation"), and Berkley served as treasurer in addition to serving on the company's

board of directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

. Although Kansas City mayors do not officially have political affiliations, Mayor Berkley was the first

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

mayor of the city since the 1920s, and its most recent one as of . He was also the city's first

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

mayor and served longer than any other mayor in Kansas City history. Prior to taking office as mayor, he served on the city council from 1969 to 1979, and was mayor pro tem from 1971 to 1979. During his term as mayor he led the calls for a federal investigation into the

Hyatt Regency walkway collapse On July 17, 1981, the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri, suffered the structural collapse of two overhead walkways. Loaded with partygoers, the concrete and glass platforms cascaded down, crashing onto a tea dance in the lobby, killin ...

in 1981. More than 700 capital improvement projects occurred during his term, including a major expansion of

Bartle Hall Convention Center The Kansas City Convention Center, originally Bartle Hall Convention Center or Bartle Hall, is a major convention center in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, USA. It was named for Harold Roe Bartle, a prominent, two-term mayor of Kansas City in th ...

and revitalization of the Quality Hill neighborhood. The Richard L. Berkley Riverfront Park on Front Street along the Missouri River near the Christopher "Kit" Bond Bridge (

I-35 Interstate 35 (I-35) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates that end in a five, it is a major cross-country, north–south route. It stretches from Laredo, Texas, near the Mexican border ...

) is named for him. His granddaughter is

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

swimsuit model McKenna Berkley, who made her debut posing nude in body paint in the 2017 issue.

References

External links

Kansas City Star profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Berkley, Richard L. 1931 births Living people Jewish mayors of places in the United States Missouri Republicans Harvard Business School alumni Mayors of Kansas City, Missouri Missouri city council members Presidents of the United States Conference of Mayors Jewish American people in Missouri politics 21st-century American Jews