Former Kansas City Mayor Charles Wheeler dies at age of 96

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Former Kansas City Mayor Charles Wheeler, who oversaw a period of rapid expansion in the 1970s and whose name adorns the city’s downtown airport, has died at age 96. Current Mayor Quinton Lucas praised Wheeler in a statement as a “statesman that all Kansas Citians, Missourians, and Americans could be proud of.” Lucas’ chief-of-staff, Morgan Said, said Wheeler died Tuesday night. She spoke to his daughter and grandson and said the family have asked Lucas to speak at the funeral. Said had no details about how or where he died, but KCUR reported that he died at a nursing home in Overland Park, Kansas. Wheeler was Kansas City mayor for two terms, from 1971 to 1979. He was elected to the state Senate in 2002 to a four-year term.