Legacy Award will honor Fehr Family
Each year, the UMKC Alumni Association and campus honor a family with a history of attending UMKC with the Legacy Award. In fields ranging from economics to education, law to professional sports and performing arts, the Fehr family has demonstrated the extensive breadth and depth of UMKC alumni contributions to community and country. Eleven family members are UMKC alumni who have left a sizable imprint on the university, on Greater Kansas City, and on communities from New York to Chicago and beyond.
They will be honored, along with the rest of the Alumni Awards class of 2015, at a luncheon on April 23.
The Fehr family legacy at UMKC began with Irene “Dolly” Fehr. She took the unique path of majoring and graduating from UMKC with a degree in economics in 1947, when less than 5 percent of all economics degrees were awarded to women. She used that skill set to be an equal partner in the successful and prominent family business, Fehr Hotel Supply. She also opened her own business in Brookside, selling stationery and wedding supplies, and eventually went into real estate sales.
Her son, Don Fehr, is a graduate of the UMKC School of Law, and is one of the most powerful individuals in professional sports. He spent 33 years with the Major League Baseball Players’ Association, the last 26 as executive director. Today, he is executive director of the National Hockey League Players’ Association.
Don’s wife, Stephanie, studied psychology, sociology and education at UMKC. She is currently a New York State PTA Consultant-Special Meetings Liaison and represents parents, students, teachers and staff in various issues before the state government. She also works as a consultant on education and special education issues. Stephanie and her sister, Teri Joy Eisen (BA Education), founded UMKC’s first Jewish sorority.
Don and Stephanie’s son, David Fehr, and David’s wife, Kathryn Fehr, both earned Master of Fine Arts in Acting and Directing in 2008 from UMKC. Upon graduation, they moved to Chicago and founded the not-for-profit Linchpin Theater.
The 11 alumni members of the extended Fehr family also include: Ronald Michael Feldman (BA Comm. Studies) Lori Gilgus Fehr (BA Comm. Studies), Cynthia Wendt (MPA Public Admin.), Kismet Lee Eveloff (BA Biology) and Bernard Eveloff (JD Law), all of whose impact and legacy will be honored through this award.