James Kemper, Jr.

James Kemper, Jr., was born in Kansas City, Missouri, to James M. Kemper Sr. and Gladys Woods Rubey. James M. Kemper, Sr. was an incorporator of The Eisenhower Foundation, signing the first meeting page in July of 1945. 

James attended Pembroke Country Day School, graduating in 1939 to attend Yale College in what would be the graduating class of 1943.

After Pearl Harbor, he left his studies to enlist in the first cavalry division as a first lieutenant. He served with distinction in the South Pacific, receiving a Purple Heart and leaving the army in 1945 as a captain. His older brother, David Woods Kemper, was killed in action in northern Italy in April 1945.

After the war, he returned to Yale to finish his undergraduate degree and then returned to Kansas City in 1946 to join the Commerce Trust Company as a commercial banking officer.

He married Mildred Lane in 1948, with whom he had four children. After a thirty-nine year marriage, she died in 1986. He later married Suzanne Shutz, now divorced. Born into a family of bankers, he was the fourth generation of his family to lead the Commerce Bank, where he was a formidable presence, especially in its senior Loan Committee meetings. In 1967, Fortune Magazine called him "the most professional banker that the Kempers have produced - a man who at bank meetings tends to know as much about details as his specialists." Mr. Kemper was a strategic and innovative businessman taking Commerce Bank from a $500 million single-location downtown Kansas City bank to a major $6.8 billion regional bank holding company at his retirement.

James also championed downtown Kansas City building three major office buildings including the landmark Commerce Tower. He was elected president of Commerce Bank in 1955, serving until his retirement as chairman in 1991.

Commerce Bank’s early employees included Harry S. Truman, the future president of the United States, and Arthur Eisenhower. Arthur, brother to Dwight D. Eisenhower, worked for the bank for 50 years and rose to the title of chief credit officer.

After leaving the bank, he continued as chair of Tower Properties, a Kansas City-based property company, and chaired the contributions committee of the William T. Kemper Foundation. In addition to his very successful career in banking, he was a leader in numerous business, civic and philanthropic agencies primarily in the Midwest. His corporate board service included Chem Agro, Archer Daniels Midland, Paul Mueller Company, Kansas City Life Insurance, Owens Corning Fiberglas and the Missouri Pacific Railroad. He was the founder of the Downtown Council of Kansas City. He served as board member and chair of the Kansas City Public School District, board member of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and chairman of the Smithsonian Institution's National Board.

He was generous to his family and to a broad number of charitable and cultural agencies throughout his life; he generally preferred to remain anonymous and rarely allowed his personal philanthropy to receive attention. He established the David Woods Kemper Veterans Foundation in memory of his brother to support veterans' issues through research and advocacy.

A passionate horseman, for years Mr. Kemper had a farm in southern Jackson County which was a center of family activity. An avid and lifelong reader of history, he also had a passion for contemporary art, particularly Chinese, Japanese, and German, and collected ancient Chinese sculpture.