George Pearson
Photo: Courtesy of George Pearson
This section highlights a local person of interest and admiration, a person whose achievements, manner, leadership, and/or character distinguish them. If you know people we should include, please apprise us at editor@candor.news, and we will interview them for future issues of Candor. In your submission, include the person’s name, noteworthy traits and accomplishments, and their contact information.
In this issue, we are highlighting George Pearson.
1. What established you in Wichita and now keeps you here?
In 1965 I came to Wichita with my college (Grove City College) economics professor who was giving a weekend seminar for the Wichita Young Presidents Organization (YPO). When we arrived at the event, we were greeted by the program committee which consisted of Bob Love, Willard Garvey, John Frazer, and Charles Koch. That seminar ultimately resulted in me being offered a job at Koch Engineering Company working for Charles Koch. That job was interrupted by the activation of the Kansas Air National Guard. While stationed in Wichita, I met my wife, Marilyn, and we were married the week after I was released from active duty. I went back to work at Koch, this time at The Fred C. Koch Foundation where I administered several foundations for the family. In 1980 I was given the additional responsibility to head a new public affairs department. By the time I left Koch in 1992, I had family, friends, and interests that kept us in Wichita.
2. Mentoring can have a serendipitous nature, i.e., people enter our lives whose presence makes us wiser or better than we were. Name two mentors to you and what did they "deposit"?
I worked for Charles Koch and considered him a mentor. For a couple of years we talked about a particular project daily. During those conversations he always took a few minutes to discuss what he was reading. I read the books he read to be able to keep up with the conversation. His focus, discipline, and capacity among other attributes were ones that I admired but never attained.
Bob Love was also a mentor. Mr. Love introduced me to investments and community involvement. He guided me on my first residential real estate investment and my first commercial real estate investment. Income from real estate investments became our source of income when I retired from Koch. My community involvement began with the YMCA. Mr. Love asked me to call on “Y” supporters annually and encourage them to donate to provide funding for the school age kids in “Y” programs who could not afford the charge of admission. I went on to serve on at least a dozen local non-profit boards.
3. What affections or disaffections color your view of the future?
On the national level I’m most concerned about the rapidly increasing debt and the accrual of power in the executive branch of government.
History tells us that out-of-control spending and an imbalance of power favoring the executive branch of government have been the recipe for disaster in many ancient and modern day countries. Closer to home I’m most concerned about education. Foremost, I would like to see higher proficiency in reading and math scores, especially among children from low-income households. My wish is that the U.S. could move up in the education rankings of industrialized countries to the much higher rank it once held.
4. The American political milieu could use a fresh dose of what?
It could use a fresh dose of partisanship where there is mutual respect between parties, to replace the hyperpartisanship that has destroyed mutual respect and keeps elected officials from having civil discussions. I worry that the lack of civility reflects the inability of big government to focus on what is best for the every day citizens. Unfortunately the incentives are for politicians to pay more attention to what it takes to get reelected than determining what policies are best for the country.
5. If education is “leading out” (Latin), what may need greater emphasis in our schools?
There is a concern that I’ve had for a long time beginning with the inception of public schooling. It is with the legal and practical impact of the transformation of American education from a system of private schooling to a system dominated by government schooling. When we had predominantly local control, parents were more involved. Now that the funding is coming from and administration is being directed by the state and federal governments, there are more influences. The federal government has its say. The state government has its say. The highly compensated local school administrators have their say. All this outside involvement has shifted education focus from the students to the institutions and blurred who is really accountable for educating the student.
6. What did you find out about yourself and/or others during this COVID-19 pandemic?
This has been the first time since I retired over two decades ago that I have been doing things that I had planned to do when I retired. I’m discovering things that I enjoy doing and the COVID pause has given me a chance to indulge in activities outside my normal routine. It’s nice to have conversations with neighbors when Marilyn and I see them on our walks. And we enjoy seeing school-age kids outside playing together in the neighborhood instead of being shipped out of the neighborhood for so many of their non-school activities.
7. What great value has been depreciated in the larger culture at great cost?
The dictionary says, “Character is mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual.” I believe it is something that every responsible individual has control over. More than any other qualities, character will define and shape the future of an individual, and I believe that it is the key to a person having dignity. I agree with my friend Larry Reed who says that character is indispensable for those who value liberty. He makes the case, “If character is depreciated, liberty is in jeopardy.” No people who have lost their character have kept their liberty.
8. In 75 words or less, fashion a sales pitch for moving to Wichita.
Wichita is a buyers’ market. For example, there are 62 restaurants within 1 ½ miles from our house with a tremendous variety of offerings.
More importantly, we have convenient access to abundant and quality art and music offerings. We have public and private schools, we have 3 colleges. We have a lot to appreciate. I’m grateful to see a new level of energy and the emergence of new community leaders.
9. For posterity's sake, how do you hope fellow Wichitans will remember you?
That I greatly appreciated my family and friends and was intent on trying to advance an understanding of liberty.