Richard J. Stern
Sigmund and Morris worked for a department store in Sioux City prior to founding their own business.
Following a honeymoon in Europe, they took up residence in Kansas City, where Sigmund was employed with the real estate firm of Wise & Stern.
)[9] The Stern family was Jewish, and Sigmund served as a member of the board of trustees of Congregation B’nai Jehudah from 1914 until 1929.
The list of companies for which the firm completed securities offerings during Stern's years at the helm includes Rival Manufacturing, Russell Stover Candies, Cook Paint & Varnish, Employers Reinsurance, Gas Service, and Frank Paxton Lumber.
When Kansas City was planning to build an overhaul base for TransWorld [sic; Trans World] Airlines, which would have entailed a complex financial transaction, it began by going to Wall Street.
As the story goes, the ‘large Eastern bond firms got weak knees,’ [Leonard] Noah [a retired vice president of operations at Stern Brothers] said.
[27] In July 1967, there were concerns that Charlie O. Finley was planning to move the Kansas City Athletics to Milwaukee.
[29] A new baseball team, the Kansas City Royals, owned by Ewing Kauffman, began playing that year.
[34] During three decades on the board the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Stern served as vice chairman, president, and treasurer.
The Kansas City Star reported that the building cost $2.65 million, with an additional $406,000 for roof repair.
The newspaper listed the donors as “Richard J. Stern, the Hall Family Foundation of Kansas, Yellow Freight Systems, the William T. Kemper Foundation-Commerce Bank Trustee, Jules and Doris Stein Foundation, H. Tony Oppenheimer, and United Telecommunications Foundation.”[36] Stern's interests ranged far beyond finance and management; he also had a tremendous fondness for the operettas of Gilbert & Sullivan.
[17] In 1992, Stern was honored, along with Adele Hall, Estelle Sosland, Jerry Berkowitz, and Robert P. Lyons, for service to the Kansas City chapter of Young Audiences.
[38] According to the council's website, “[the] annual Missouri Arts Awards celebrate people, organizations, and communities that have made profound and lasting contributions to the cultural and artistic climate of the state.”[39] In 2001, Stern was one of the 175 people whose contributions to the area were recognized on the Legacy List for Jackson County, Missouri.
Among them were Lucille Bluford, the publisher of the Kansas City Call; Walt Disney, the creator of Mickey Mouse; George Kessler, who designed the parks and boulevards system for Kansas City; Charlie Parker, the jazz musician; and Harry S. Truman, former president.
[42] He sold it in 1963 and purchased the Sondern House at 3600 Belleview Avenue, which had been designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in the late 1930s, with a substantial addition by the architect circa 1950.
[44] Travel was an important part of Stern's life, with Europe and the Caribbean Islands as preferred destinations.
[21] Just as he returned often to places he loved, he had several restaurants where he was a regular: the Savoy, in Kansas City,[45] and Harry's Bar, in Venice.
[3] At the time of his death, Stern had been a Lyric Opera board member for approximately two-thirds of its 44-year history.
On Stern's death, Evan Luskin, then the general director of the Lyric Opera, was quoted as saying, “In so many ways, he’s been Mr.
[50] The University of Missouri – Kansas City has a Richard J. Stern Foundation for the Arts Scholarship for Theatre, which is awarded to graduate students who are majoring in costume design.
[51] Faculty members at Phillips Academy Andover are eligible to receive the Richard J. Stern Instructorship.
[52] In recent years, the Richard J. Stern Foundation for the Arts has been a catalyst for the projects of a variety of organizations, in addition to the ones with which he was associated.
