Douglas S. Wright (c. 1948 – July 27, 2023) was an American attorney and politician who was the mayor of Topeka, Kansas and a candidate for the United States Congress.
In 1984, Wright welcomed the Olympic Torch to the city running one kilometer with it as it made its way to Los Angeles.
[4] He led the effort to return a two-hundred-year-old bell looted from a Buddhist temple during the American occupation of Japan following World War II.
[6] Wright lost his re-election bid in 1989 to former Parks Commissioner Harry “Butch” Felker III by about 5,000 votes.
Wright filed suit and a Judge Larry Hendricks ordered the Board to reconsider its decision.
According to press reports, "The requirements to obtain a teaching license for a person with a criminal past include waiting at least five years since the conviction, finishing any probationary period and presenting evidence of rehabilitation."
While an undergraduate at Washburn, Wright was a member of the Kansas Beta chapter of Phi Delta Theta.
In 2003, Wright was charged by Shawnee County District Attorney Robert Hecht with 47 counts of felony theft.
Forty-three counts stemmed from Wright’s alleged theft of approximately $86,000 between January 1998 and February 2002 from his elderly great-aunt, Vera L. Johnson.