John Baumgartner Obituary

John Franklyn Baumgartner MT. PLEASANT - John Franklyn Baumgartner, the oldest living former President of the Kansas City Board of Trade, died Monday of natural causes. A Memorial Celebration of His Life will be held at J. HENRY STUHR, INC. DOWNTOWN CHAPEL, 232 Calhoun Street, Charleston, South Carolina on Saturday, October 2, 2010, at 2:00 p.m. Inurnment will be held at a later date at Village Presbyterian Church, Prairie Village, Kansas. Mr. Baumgartner, 90, was President of the Kansas City Board of Trade, President of the Simonds-Shields-Theis Grain Company of Kansas City as well as President of the Fuller Grain Company of Kansas City. He was also President of Central States Grain Company. Born August 16, 1920 to the late Otto and Lillian Baumgartner in Salina, Kansas, he attended the University of Kansas where he was business manager of the campus newspaper and a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity. He received a Bachelor's degree from Kansas in business administration in 1942. Baumgartner joined the US Naval Reserve in December, 1941, attended Midshipman's School at Columbia University in New York City. He was commissioned Ensign in March, 1943. He participated in ten amphibious landings by the USS Harris on Japanese-held islands in World War II and rose to the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade. Following the war, he served briefly in Tsingtao, China. He returned to Kansas City where he entered the stock brokerage business and in 1953 he entered the grain business. He was considered an expert on many grain futures and appeared nationally as an expert analyst on the Louis Rukeyser television program. He retired from grain business in 1989. He was one of the principals in the development of stock index futures which originated at the Kansas City Board of Trade based on the Value Line Index. The system of trading was later adopted by markets in Chicago and New York City. Baumgartner also advised in the development of stock index futures in Osaka, Japan on the Nikkei. The Chicago Tribune in September, 1994, praised him as "one" of the Kansas City market's most famous sons by securing for the exchange a place in futures industry chronicles. It was Baumgartner who, in the late 70's and early 80's, pioneered the Value Line Contract. In November, 2006, Baumgartner was recognized during the Kansas City Board of Trade's 150th anniversary celebration as its oldest living former President. He is survived by his wife of more than 64 years, Ada Lee Fuller Baumgartner; brother, Paul Baumgartner (wife, Linda) of Colorado Springs, CO; daughters, Barbara Brewer (Tom) of Charleston, SC; and Lynn Henry (Butch) of Aiken, SC; grandsons, Dr. Matthew Brown (Kathy) of Linwood, KS, Patrick Brown (Caroline) of Johns Island, SC; Kyle Henry (Jennifer) of Dallas, TX; and Brian Henry (Tracy) of Sanford, ME, and eight great grandchildren. Baumgartner was a member of Village Presbyterian Church of Prairie Village, Kansas, and Mission Hills Country Club before relocating to Tucson, AZ in 1989. In Tucson he attended Northminster Presbyterian Church and held membership at Ventana Canyon Golf and Racquet Club. He moved to Aiken in 2004 and resided at Cumberland Village before relocating to Mount Pleasant, SC in July, 2010. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Alzheimer's Association, 2090 Executive Hall Road, Suite 130, Charleston, 29407. Memorial messages may be written to the family by visiting our website at www.jhenrystuhr.com. Visit our guestbook at www.postandcourier.com/ deaths