The Distributors
An elite category. These are people who are making their mark not so much in generating wealth, as in distributing it.
Henry Bloch. With Henry's recent retirement, both he and his brother Richard have passed beyond the power- generating phase of their career and moved more or less full time into distribution. Henry has made his most significant mark on education. Since 1985, The Henry W. and Marion H. Bloch Foundation funneled enough jack to the University of Missouri-Kansas City's business school that it is now called the Henry W. Bloch School of Business and Public Administration. The Blochs also have financed scholarships at Avila College, as well as scholarships and capital improvements at the Kansas City Art Institute, and have recently launched a scholarship program for Kansas City youth.
Richard Bloch. A survivor of lung and colon cancer, Richard Bloch has dedicated much of his fortune to helping others do the same through the R.A. Bloch Cancer Foundation, founded by himself and his wife, Annette Bloch. Two years ago, Bloch donated the Bloch Cancer Support Center to UMKC. The Bloch Cancer Foundation also has established a toll-free nationwide cancer hotline as well as 15 cancer survivor parks across the United States, including Kansas City, and about 15 more in development.
Barnett and Shirley Helzberg. It was really only after Barnett Helzberg sold his inland diamond empire to none other than Omaha's Warren Buffet that the Helzbergs public career kicked into high gear. The sale left the Helzbergs with serious money, and to Kansas City's good fortune, they have proved willing to distribute it. Shirley has been board president of Starlight Theatre, the Kansas City Symphony and the Shakespeare Festival, and now the new Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City. One does not get these gigs solely on personality. The Helzbergs also gave one of the largest personal gifts for Union Station's restoration and a cool million for a garden at Starlight. And right out of mentor Ewing Kauffman's playbook, Barnett, his wife Shirley, Lynne Brown and Thomas Bloch Jr. launched University Academy, a charter school.
Julia Irene Kauffman. Julia heads up the Muriel McBrien Kauffman Foundation, named for her always colorful mom, and is a moving force behind the proposed new performing arts center downtown. As the most visible heiress of the city's most significant fortune, and a feisty character in her own right, Ms. Kauffman brings considerable energy into every room in which she walks.
Estelle and Morton I. Sosland. Although Morton has considerable financial clout as chairman of Sosland Companies Inc., it is in the role of civic leaders and arts patrons that he and wife Estelle have shaped the city. That "shape" includes what may be Kansas City's most distinctive landmark, the shuttlecocks on the Nelson lawn, for which the Soslands deserve-depending on your point of view-either credit or responsibility. Estelle has served on the Museum Board of Trustees at the Nelson, arguably the city's most prestigious board other than perhaps Hallmark's on which Morton sits.
Lou Smith. Unlike those above, Lou Smith distributes other people's money. It's just that at the Kauffman Foundation, where Smith serves as president, there is so much of it to distribute. As president of the Kansas City division of Allied Signal before retiring, Smith had heft even before he came to Kauffman. He also helped in the Royals transition and served on the board overseeing Union Station renovation. An unspoken advantage is Smith's minority status, which gives him added weight in circles anxious about the big "D" as in diversity