Jerry Paul Fogel

Jerry Paul Fogel was born June 11, 1940, in Kansas City, Missouri, the second of six children of Morris and Helen Rowlette Fogel, of Kansas City. He passed away peacefully May 17, 2026, at Saint Luke’s Hospice House, Kansas City.

Jerry was a lifelong Kansas Citian. He was a graduate of Southwest High School with the class of 1958. He graduated in 1962 from the University of Missouri, Columbia, where he joined Sigma Chi Fraternity. He completed the ROTC program and upon graduation was commissioned as an officer in the US Army. He served in northern South Korea at the demilitarized zone where artillery rounds were routinely fired into the zone from both the South and the North. Jerry was honorably discharged as a captain in 1964 and was presented the Army Commendation Medal.

Upon discharge, Jerry began his career in industrial real estate with B.A. Karbank & Co. in Kansas City. In 1982, he formed J.P. Fogel & Company, which in December 2002 merged with Kessinger/Hunter & Company, with Jerry joining as co-chairman. He later served as a principal and mentor until retiring in 2024. Jerry’s extensive Kansas City real estate legacy includes many years of membership and leadership with the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR), where he enjoyed relationships with colleagues and friends around the country.

Jerry was chairman of the Jackson County Missouri Republican Executive Committee in 1976 when the Republican National Convention was held in Kansas City, and his was a significant leadership role with the host committee. During a 2016 C-Span panel discussion of the 1976 convention, Jerry was referred to as “the boy wonder chair of the Jackson County Republican party in 1976.”

Many businesses and civic organizations benefited from Jerry’s leadership. He was a former director of the Metropolitan Kansas City Board of Realtors and served many years on the board of directors of Missouri Bank and Trust Company of Kansas City. In 1981 he was named Citizen of the Year by the Mid-America Regional Council for outstanding leadership in formulating clear air policies for the metropolitan area. He served as chairman of the Aviation Committee of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce and as president of the Heart of America Council, Boy Scouts of America (BSA) in 1994 and 1995.

His dedication to service to BSA (now Scouting America) formed in his youth. He earned his Eagle Scout with Troop 123 in 1954. The Heart of America Council named him a Distinguished Eagle Scout in 1997. He was presented the Silver Beaver award in 1989. Jerry was a sachem in the Tribe of Mic-O-Say, where his name was Flaming Red Sunset. A few of his proudest moments were watching his grandsons become Eagle Scouts and seeing Jamie take the name Flaming Red Sunrise as a warrior in the Tribe of Mic-O-Say.

Until later in life, Jerry was a member of Mission Hills Country Club, which he enjoyed immensely. Other longtime memberships included The River Club, Mercury Club, and Plaza Sunrise Optimists Club.

Jerry was a lifelong runner and also enjoyed the challenge of scaling the tallest peaks. Jerry and his brother, Guy Fogel, climbed all of the 14,000-foot peaks in Colorado, sometimes in the company of Jerry’s very close friend, John Eckels. He conquered Rainier and attempted the Matterhorn, accepting his guide’s insistence to turn back for safety reasons when enticingly near the summit. The Hillcrest Hunting Club in LaCygne, Kansas, was very dear to him as it was to his father before him and is now to his son, Paul. He probably did not miss a single season, and he loved hunting ducks with his grandfather Fogel’s shotgun. Jerry’s enthusiasm for travel persisted throughout his life, and he explored the world extensively.

Jerry is survived by his wife, Rhonda Fogel, of their home near Sedalia, Colorado; his daughter, Brooke Fogel Bremser (JB), of Kansas City, Missouri; his son, John Paul Fogel (Tracy), of Prairie Village, Kansas; his grandsons, James Paul Fogel and William Ritchie Fogel, both of Lawrence, Kansas; his granddaughter, Julia Maynor Fogel, of Lincoln, Nebraska; his sister, Prudence True (Robert) of Fairway, Kansas; his brother, Guy Fogel, of Castle Rock, Colorado; his sister, Martha Gail Hughey (Rick), of Overland Park, Kansas; his sister, Carol Jean Downey of Prairie Village, KS; and many nephews, nieces and cousins. Jerry was preceded in death by his sister, Pamela Ruth Fogel McKee; and his stepson, Douglas Farchmin.

Donations can be made to the Heart of America Council of the Boy Scouts of America at https://www.hoac-bsa.org/give-scouting-kc or sent to Heart of America Council BSA, 10210 Holmes Road, Kansas City MO 64131.