Rufus Crosby Kemper Jr. (February 22, 1927 – January 2, 2014) was an American banker and philanthropist.

Career

Kemper was born into an influential banking and railroading family in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the List of United States cities by populat ...

. His father was Rufus Crosby Kemper Sr. He attended Southwest High School in Kansas City, then transferred to Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts where he graduated in 1945. After returning from service in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Mr. Kemper enrolled in the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded in ...

and became a member of the

Zeta Phi Zeta (, ; uppercase Ζ, lowercase ζ; grc, ζῆτα, el, ζήτα, label=Demotic Greek, classical or ''zē̂ta''; ''zíta'') is the sixth letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 7. It was derived fr ...

chapter of Beta Theta Pi. In 1950, Kemper went to work for the United Missouri Bank, which later became UMB Financial Corporation. He later became president in 1959. He ran for the U.S. Senate in 1962 on the

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 ...

ticket and in the same year chaired the Kansas City Industrial Committee. He was active in the running of the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, which was named for him. He retired as chairman of UMB in 2004.

Personal

Kemper died at age 86 on January 2, 2014, at Indian Wells, California. He had seven children with wives Cynthia Warrick Kemper and Mary "Bebe" Stripp Kemper, including Crosby Kemper III and Mariner Kemper. On June 18, 1965, Kemper and his wife Mary Kemper adopted son Sandy Kemper in

Chicago Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. Kemper was a first cousin, twice removed, of actress Ellie Kemper.

References

External links

University of Missouri biographyKansas City Business Hall of Fame profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kemper, R. Crosby Jr. American art collectors Museum founders American philanthropists 1927 births 2014 deaths R. Crosby Jr American bank presidents Businesspeople from Kansas City, Missouri University of Missouri alumni Missouri Republicans 20th-century American businesspeople