Charles William Hucker

Charles William Hucker, 58, died September 20, 2005, at his home in Kansas City. The cause of death was stomach cancer. Mr. Hucker was born June 25, 1947, at Old St. Joseph Hospital in Kansas City. He was the son of Henry Charles Hucker III and Idella Maurine Benton Hucker of Kansas City. Mr. Hucker is survived by his wife of 30 years, Linda S. Foister, of the home; a daughter, Anne Benton Hucker, of Washington, D.C.; a brother and sisterin-law, Dr. Richard Benton Hucker and Carol Hucker and niece Kara Hucker, of Georgetown, Colo., and two aunts, Mrs. Vivian Benton Terrill, of Urbana, Ill., and Mrs. Wylma Hucker, of Kansas City. Mr. Hucker grew up in southern Independence and graduated from Blue Springs High School in 1965. He earned a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of MissouriColumbia in 1969. After graduation, he joined The Kansas City Star as a reporter before entering graduate school at the University of Iowa in the fall of 1969. From 1970 to 1972, he served in the U.S. Army, where he wrote for the Pacific Stars & Stripes while stationed in Seoul, Korea. In 1972, he rejoined the The Kansas City Star, first as general assignment reporter and then as acting education editor. From 1972 to 1975, he was a legislative correspondent in Jefferson City. In 1976, he covered the Missouri and national election campaigns. He later he covered Missouri politics and government. In 1977, Mr. Hucker became a political reporter for Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report in Washington, D.C., where he also covered the Senate Judiciary Committee. In 1979, he became political editor for the magazine and in 1980, managing editor. Mr. Hucker returned to Kansas City in 1984 to join Hallmark Cards Inc. as director of communications. In 1985, he became vice president of public affairs and communications. Mr. Hucker retired from Hallmark in the early 1990s and established a national consulting firm, Executive Communications Services. He also was a faculty members of the Executive MBA program the Bloch Business School at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Mr. Hucker was active in civic and national affairs. His many memberships include service on the Executive Committee of the Public Affairs Council in Washington, D.C., and as a board member of the Kansas City Neighborhood Alliance for 13 years. He also was on the board of Kansas City Coro Public affairs program and of Move-Up. Mr. Hucker will miss especially his wife and daughter. His only regret was that he never learned to play the bagpipes. Services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, September 24, at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Kansas City. The family requests no flowers and asks that donations be made to St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 11 E. 40th St., Kansas City, Mo. 64111, earmarked Haiti.