Requiescat in Pace Robert Kipp

My Father Passed Away Last Week

Robert Almy Kipp passed away peacefully and naturally on November 30, 2021 in Overland Park, Kansas. Bob was 89 and is survived by his wife of 64 years Debbie and his two sons Steven and David ( Andrea ) and four grandchildren: Steven ( Amanda ), Woody, Jasper and Archie. He also leaves three sisters ( Amy, Marilyn and Martha ) and one brother ( Bill ). An older brother ( John ) preceded Bob.

Born in Lincoln Nebraska in 1932, Bob spent his early years in Lincoln and Lubbock Texas, before his family settled in Lawrence Kansas. After graduating from the University of Kansas in 1952 with a degree in Civil Engineering, he served as a communications officer in the United States Air Force in the Korean War, stationed at the remote Adak Station on the Alaskan Aleutian Islands in the Bering Sea. Returning to Lawrence, he received his master’s degree in Public Administration from KU and began a consequential career in city management. His trajectory took him from Kansas to small towns in Southwestern Ohio ( Vandalia and Fairborn ) and ultimately back to Kansas City Missouri, where Bob served as the City Manager from 1973-1983 under Mayors Wheeler and Berkley. Kansas City has been his home for more than 40 years. He described his municipal career as being “an agent of democracy.”

Hallmark Cards, then as now an anchor partner in the development of Greater Kansas City, recruited Bob to lead its Crown Center Redevelopment Corporation. In the ensuing years, he held executive positions in Hallmark and was a director of the Hall Family Foundation, engaging in a wide range of philanthropic initiatives in Kansas City. While at Hallmark, Bob was not only an ambassador and advisor to the community, but a valuable voice for the human and creative elements in the company’s growth.

In Kansas City and Lawrence, much is known about Bob Kipp’s contributions, which were wide ranging and too numerous to detail. Organizations and institutions like the Kansas City Community Foundation, the KC Civil Council, the University of Kansas, the Kansas City Symphony, the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, the International City Management Association, the Midwest Research Institute and several more enjoyed Bob’s active participation.

Bob met Debbie Graves on a train in Newton Kansas. They were married under Eisenhower skies in Lawrence in 1956 and enjoyed a nourishing life together, raising a family that now extends throughout the Middle West. Bob and Debbie were the strong foundation of support for their family in many intangible ways. His grandfather developed a rustic homestead in the Colorado Rockies 100 years ago, and it was there that you might find Bob at his most reflective and peaceful.

Bob Kipp’s professional life carried with it public obligations, which he met with an understated demeanor, earning a reputation for humility, approachability, engaged listening and a quietly collaborative style. He served as an astute counselor to many.

But Bob’s successful public contributions may ultimately not have been as impactful as his life outside that realm. Being part of Bob Kipp’s private universe was an education in the richness of life. His enthusiasms were surprisingly eclectic: cooking, photography, poetry, weird automobiles, popcorn, Monty Python, the University of Kansas, barbeque, children’s stories, audio equipment, fried chicken ( with white gravy ), strange wristwatches, obscure books and movies, Chiefs football, Jewish humor, Colorado mountain life and Costco. And, of course, there was music.

Always a musical classicist, from his early days in Nebraska with his grandparents, his taste also comprised the post-war folk movement, opera and a diverse appetite for classical and modern composers and artists. This deep curiosity led Bob to his extensive involvement with the Kansas City Symphony and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. He loved listening to music, understanding it, appreciating musicianship, and sharing his passion for music for anyone who showed an interest.

To his family, Bob was a source of wisdom and merriment. One of six children, mostly born and raised in the Great Depression and Post-War years, Bob was accustomed to resilience and patience, qualities that never left him and guided his own life and contribution to others. He also had an impish sense of humor that became manifest in a thousand small moments, phrases, and traditions among the Greater Kipp Family. Bob claimed throughout his adult life that he had invented the electric toothbrush and was due significant royalties. He discovered the animal known as the “wunk,” conducted a quixotic search for the perfect pan-fried chicken recipe and authored a self-published though never released volume called the Adak Letters. Bob had an unorthodox mind that would often find an unusual slant on the matter at hand, giving surprise and delight to fellow travelers.

Bob Kipp was a man for all seasons and to, the very end of his earthly life, met and exceeded what Saul Bellow called the terms of one’s contract. The one, in our inmost heart, that we all know.  

Requiescat in Pace, Robert Almy Kipp.