Willam H. “Doc” Worley died last Saturday (12/7/24) at the age of 82. His funeral is tomorrow morning (details and obituary here).

When I heard the news, my mind drifted back to 1979 when I met Doc and his business partner Mike Russell. We were brought together by our mutual friend Ken Hill who presented a dual agenda.

First, politics. Ken and I were deep into Democratic politics and had worked together on Mike White’s 1974 successful campaign for county executive. When Mike’s term ended in January of 1979, Mike and I joined Jim Polsinelli’s (then) small law firm on the Plaza. Worley and Russell were interested in politics, mostly at the city level, and Ken thought we could all work together on candidate support and fundraising. Worley and Russell would go on to be major supporters of Councilman Emanuel Cleaver who became Kansas City’s mayor in 1991 and KC’s congressman in 2005. Until Doc’s death, he remained a close advisor to his friend “Rev” Cleaver.

 Second, business. Mike White and I were looking for business to bring to our new law firm. Ken Hill was also hustling business, serving as the Jackson County representative of a St. Louis property tax consulting firm. Ken was soon joined at that firm by my law school mentor Wayne Tenenbaum who had just finalized his term as county assessor for Mike White. Russell was an active real estate developer, and his partner/investor Worley was a veterinarian (the “Doc”), but their property portfolio was growing so fast that Doc was phasing out of his practice. The synergy and timing were excellent.

1980 and 1981 became big years for all of us. Worley sold his veterinary practice and became a full-time developer. He and Russell became major clients of our law firm, especially related to industrial revenue bond financing for their growing real estate empire. The property taxes on those developments were monitored by Ken Hill and Wayne Tenenbaum who made their own entrepreneurial move in 1981 by forming Tenenbaum-Hill Associates.

In 1982, Russell was approached by Don Keough, an editor with the St. Louis Business Journal. Keough wanted to know if Mike and Doc would like to start a similar business weekly for Kansas City. Mike took the idea to Doc who recalled saying a four-letter word and walking out of the room. But they did it, hiring a staff and setting up offices in the Congress Building on Broadway (file photo, KCBJ).

 

 The first edition of the Kansas City Business Journal was published on October 3, 1982. I still have my inaugural copy.

The paper was an immediate hit. Every Friday, the latest edition triggered conversations all over town. In a KCBJ interview reported in January of 2022, Doc explained it this way:

“And it took off. You know, we made money from the get-go. And the reason was we were writing, as I always jokingly refer to it, half-truths and innuendos. But we were writing stuff that not anybody else was writing. We were finding stuff, and people didn’t want to miss it. And what Pete Smith (chairman of McDowell Rick Smith & Buchanan PC) said is right: If you missed the Business Journal on a Friday, you wouldn’t go to the party Saturday night because you knew you were going to be completely out of the loop.”

This was certainly true for those of us in the property development world. Real estate was booming, and the KCBJ reporters were all over the deals being made. It was great timing for our law firm which was in the middle of many of the transactions (we loved the KCBJ quote that the firm had a “seemingly ubiquitous presence on the real estate scene.”). The business was coming so fast that our law firm started a night shift of typists to keep up. All those developers needed real estate tax help too, so Tenenbaum-Hill was also rocking.

I took great pleasure in watching the success of the dynamic duos of Russell-Worley and Tenenbaum-Hill. In a nice coincidence, they were featured in cover stories two months apart in 1986.

In the February edition, Tenenbaum and Hill were lauded as maybe the hottest business partnership in Kansas City. They were compared to others, such as Russell and Worley, a partnership that was also going well (per Doc’s quote, “Put Mike Russell and I together, and somehow money is going to be made.”).

 The article emphasized how little Tenenbaum and Hill had in common. Ken was tall and thin. Wayne, short and wide. Ken was raised poor and Protestant. Wayne, middle-class and Jewish. Ken didn’t finish college. Wayne had a law degree.

Wayne: “Part of the chemistry between Ken and me is that we’re completely different. He’s action oriented. He shoots from the hip. I’m more the kind that’s going to sit back and think about things. If we were alike, we wouldn’t have had the success that we’ve had.”

Ken (at left below): “I’m the one who kicks it in the ass and makes it go. I wouldn’t know how to try a case if my life depended on it. And Wayne wouldn’t know how to take a sales order if you put a pencil in his hand.”

 

 After only five years, Tenenbaum-Hill was ranked second in the nation in property tax consulting. And they were on their way to #1 with new funding from investor Business Men’s Assurance Corporation.

In April, it was Russell and Worley’s turn on the cover. And what a cover.

Kevin Helliker, the same columnist who wrote the Tenenbaum-Hill article, again emphasized the differences between the partners. After interviewing them, he came to some conclusions:

“Behind all the bantering, there’s clearly an unaffected synergism dependent largely on Doc’s willingness to let Russell steal the show…While Russell is out promoting and brainstorming, Worley keeps a hand on the wheel and an eye on all the gauges. Without him, insiders say, the company would operate like an untuned automobile…Worley keeps the bills paid and the help happy.”

And as described by a former KCBJ executive, “They’re fifty-fifty. Mike’s the risk taker, Doc the more conservative one. Mike’s the great salesman, Doc the great negotiator.”

In just three years, Russell and Worley, under the umbrella of American City Business Journals, expanded to 13 cities, ranging from Buffalo to Honolulu. In 1985, ACBJ went public with a sale of 40% of the company for $14 million. As for the hometown KCBJ, Worley quipped that “Now we’ve made virtually everybody in town mad with some article or other.”

Corporate Report/Kansas City was a monthly business magazine owned by a national company, and just a few months after Mike and Doc were on the cover, they bought the magazine. They hoped it would be complementary to their weekly paper. Steve Roling, the publisher of the KCBJ, became the temporary publisher of Corporate Report, but he soon turned over the reins of the magazine to his suggested successor, Woody Overton. Another new employee was Bob White who traveled the country scouting new cities for the business. The connection: Steve, Woody and Bob had all been staffers for Senator Tom Eagleton. This leads to a Doc story.

Doc’s Tom Eagleton Story: Doc was a great storyteller, and he usually added his signature wit to add color to his tales. A story I heard more than once was about Senator Tom Eagleton who retired at the end of 1986 after serving three terms in the U.S. Senate. Doc and Mike knew Eagleton through their political work and knew that the Senate staff had good people.

Doc’s tongue-in-cheek story about hiring Steve, Woody and Bob went like this, as recounted by Steve Roling:

“Tom Eagleton was retiring from the US Senate and because he had an outstanding staff, virtually every one of his staff was able to find a new job quickly…except for Steve, Bob and Woody. Eagleton kept calling Mike and Doc begging them to hire all three of us. When Doc asked Eagleton what each of us know about the newspaper business, Eagleton replied that they know about as much as they knew about the US Senate when I hired them…which was nothing! Then Eagleton would talk about how all three of us needed a job to support our young children. Eagleton told them he had made many calls to his KC friends, and nobody was interested in hiring us…so unless Mike and Doc hired us, we were going to be homeless. Mike and Doc felt sorry for us…so they hired us!! Doc would give that silly laugh that made you wonder if he was telling the truth or not!”

Doc and Mike were quite happy with their Eagleton veterans. But not so much with the magazine which they found not to be complementary to the paper. A year after the purchase, publisher Woody Overton hired me to handle the transaction selling the magazine to Bob Ingram who rebranded the magazine as Ingram’s (still in publication today).

 Beyond the Boardroom and Real Estate: Mike and Doc were also heavily involved in civic and charity activities. A long (but only partial) list of Doc’s outside endeavors is in his obituary.

For Mike, I have a wonderful piece written by Ken Hill in 1991 that captures Mike in so many ways. Here is an excerpt:

“Few have responded to the call of charities as has Mike. Not the glamourous ones like art galleries and symphonies, but the ones that nurture and educate less fortunate children; the ones that minister to the old and the infirm.

 When our elected officials needed someone to lead us to an important civic goal (Union Station, Democratic National Convention and many others) how often have they called on Mike to head the effort. Too often to count.

 On central city redevelopment, Mike was a pioneer in investing in and improving historically important apartment, office and hotel properties, when all logic said invest in the suburbs!

 As an unofficial ambassador of Kansas City, Mike has spoken to groups throughout the country on the virtues of our beautiful city and region.

 And what about having the courage to invest (with Bill Worley) and create the now civically important Kansas City Business Journal.”

 Amen.

 Winding Down: Mike and Doc sold American City Business Journals in 1989, but the legacy lives on with current owner Advance Publications operating in 45 cities.

 Each of the dynamic duos eventually sold their businesses and properties and then moved on separately to other entrepreneurial adventures.

Ken Hill bought the Larson Company, an enterprise manufacturing artificial environments for zoos, aquariums and theme parks around the world. Ken died, way too young (56), in 1993. Mike Russell was one of the speakers at Ken’s funeral.

Wayne stayed in the property tax appeal business and was working on a case the week he died in 2022 at age 80. A week before he died, Wayne told me had just finished reading Joe Posnanski’s The Baseball 100. A perfect final book for Wayne, a rabid fan and a baseball card connoisseur.

Doc became a principal in Kingston Environmental, and his marketing and scientific skills were key in making it the go-to company for environmental issues. A lot of big scientific words are involved in Doc’s work at Kingston, so I’m going to borrow from his bio for his 2011 induction into the Hall of Fame of Raytown High School (or as Doc liked to call it, Raytown Country Day):

“Combining his business with a passion for the environment, he has led the company to milestones in the environmental services arena. In 1992, he organized a group of over 30 environmental companies to advance the science of Bioremediation, creating Alpha Environmental Bio Systems, Inc., and in the process applied proprietary technology to clean up over 250 contaminated sites in every region in the United States. Dr. Worley is a recognized authority in the field of environmental science.”
As for Mike Russell, he kept his hand in the real estate business, much to my benefit…

 Mike’s Huge Gift to Lonnie: Mike was always good about referring business to our law firm. In 1993, a Wichita broker called Mike looking for local counsel for a buyer of a Wichita office building. The buyer, Gary Barnett, was from New York, but then working in Antwerp in the diamond business. Gary and two investors were looking to buy property in several states in the down real estate market.

Mike recommended me because the Wichita property was financed with industrial revenue bonds, much like some of the financings that I had done for Mike and Doc. Mike’s sales pitch worked (no surprise, he was always a great salesman), and we got hired. After the first closing, Gary was happy and started using the firm for more work. The pace of acquisitions accelerated so much that Gary moved back to New York, and our firm had to add several lawyers to keep up. He became essentially my only client for the next 20+ years (until I retired in 2017). In addition to major projects around the country, Gary evolved into one of the top developers in the city of New York.

I thanked Mike Russell for this referral every time I saw him. Sadly, Mike died in 2009 at age 69.

Doc and Baseball: Doc’s interest in baseball was noted in his obituary: “A lifelong Kansas Citian and a Royals season ticket holder since the 1970s, Worley passed on his love of baseball to his family, with his legacy continuing through the ‘Doc Worley’ seats at the stadium.”

 

 Below, in the Doc Worley seats, from left: Tom Sanders, Doc, Pete Smith and Congressman Emanual Cleaver (“Rev” to Doc).

 

 I was lucky to share a great baseball moment with Doc. The date was October 26, 1985. I was sitting with my teenage son Jason in our season ticket seats along the third base line. Directly in front of us were Doc and one of his daughters.

It was the ninth inning of Game 6 of the World Series. The Cardinals were ahead 1-0 and three outs away from winning the game and the Series. George Orta batted first and was called safe on an infield hit. Umpire Don Denkinger was clearly wrong on that safe call, but no matter in those days. No replay.

The Royals rallied to load the bases. Dane Iorg came to the plate and singled in two runs for the victory (below, Jim Sundberg scoring the winning run).

The crowd of course went wild, and nobody was in a hurry to leave the stadium. We just basked in the glow of the victory. Doc and I could not stop grinning and high-fived each other until our hands hurt.

The next night, the Royals won Game 7 for their first World Series championship.

Over the years, Doc would call me near opening day to get together to talk about the upcoming season. A lot of our visits were at Niecie’s, one of his favorite spots. The staff loved him and knew exactly what to bring him when he ordered “the usual.”

In 2015, after the Royals won their second World Series, I began my Hot Stove baseball newsletter. Doc was an inaugural subscriber and often commented on the posts.

Getting together was interrupted by Covid in 2020. To escape confinement, Rita and I took daily long walks, often stopping by friends’ houses to say hello. We took photos of these socially distanced moments to post in Hot Stove. Doc’s photo ran with the caption “Doc Worley, humorist and entrepreneur.”

Octogenarian Stories: Doc and I were born six months apart. We were both raised in eastern Jackson County – I was a 1959 graduate of Van Horn High School in Independence, and Doc was a 1960 graduate of Raytown Country Day. I turned 80 in 2021. Doc…

Doc at 80 (2022): When Doc turned 80 in February of 2022, I gave him some ink in Hot Stove (a token repayment of what he did for me at the KCBJ). At the end of most Hot Stoves, there is a playlist of songs, usually vintage rock ‘n’ roll. The section for this post was titled “Lonnie’s Jukebox – Doc Worley’s Octogenarian Edition” and Doc gave me a couple of songs to include, “Running Bear” by Johnny Preston and “Shout” by the Isley Brothers (if you click on the song titles, you can listen to Doc’s picks).

For additional copy in Doc’s edition, I contacted Pat Hininger (RIP, 2023) who graduated from Raytown Country Day with Doc in 1960. I knew Pat from our days in the Young Democrats, and she sent me this photo of her and Doc at their 30^th high school class reunion (1990).

 

 Doc at 81 (2023): In February of 2023, a group of us took Doc out to lunch for his 81^st birthday. One of those in attendance was Dan Margolies, a reporter at the KCBJ from 1984 to 1999. Dan filed this Facebook report on our luncheon with Doc:

Doc at 82 (2024): Doc was not getting out much, so I phoned him to wish him a happy 82^nd birthday. He sounded good and seemed pleased with the progress on his new hip.

When Doc died last week, my dynamic duo friends were all gone, but in each case left wonderful memories. My heartfelt thanks to Doc, Mike, Wayne and Ken for their decades of friendship and support.

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Prior Tributes:

Ken Hill – From Pendergast to Carnahan (click here).

Wayne Tenenbaum – A Personal Remembrance (click here).