Former Kansas City Mayor Charles Wheeler has died at the age of 96. Charles Wheeler was not only the mayor of Kansas City, he was also a state senator, a doctor, a lawyer and served in both the US Navy and US Air Force during a long life of public service.The downtown airport is named after Wheeler. He was also mayor when Kansas City International Airport was dedicated in November 1972. Former vice-president Spiro Agnew is at the podium in this picture.During his time in the 1970s as mayor, Wheeler oversaw the financing and construction of both Kemper Arena and the Bartle Hall Convention Center.Wheeler, who served as mayor from 1971 to 1979.Current Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas released a statement on Wednesday about the former mayorLucas's statement on Wheeler:“I spoke this morning with the family of Charles B. Wheeler, M.D., our former mayor and one of the finest people ever to serve our community, and learned of Mayor Wheeler’s passing at the age of 96.He started his long career in service as a member of the United States Navy and later as a public servant for many years in Kansas City. Mayor Wheeler leaves behind a legacy which will be felt for generations to come, having led Kansas City through the opening of the Kansas City International Airport, Bartle Hall, and Kemper Arena, launching Kansas City into the convention town we know it to be today, and positively raising our community’s national and international profile. He also helped lead Kansas City through its recovery following the devastating floods of 1977. Mayor Wheeler was a statesman all Kansas Citians, Missourians, and Americans could be proud of, who in addition to his service in elective office bravely served our country in the U.S. Navy as a flight surgeon before returning to school to earn his juris doctorate. Since becoming mayor, I have been proud to call him a personal friend and a mentor. He will be missed.Mayor Wheeler leaves behind his daughter Marion and his daughter Nina, whom he was able to spend two beautiful weeks with prior to his passing, and is preceded in death by his sons Gordon, Mark, and Graham, and Kansas City’s former First Lady, his beloved wife Marjorie. Since becoming mayor, I have been proud to call him a personal friend and mentor".Mayor Wheeler leaves behind two daughters Marion and Nina.Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II, who also served as KC's mayor from 1991 to 1999 also sent out a statement on Wheeler's passing.Cleaver's statement on Wheeler:"Charlie Wheeler was my dear friend, an important mentor, and the most visionary Mayor in the history of our great city. During my eight years as Mayor, I was blessed to have had the likes of Charlie Wheeler, Ike Davis, and Dick Berkley as guides through the best and worst of times — and our city was better off for it.Having both a J.D. and an M.D., Charlie very likely was the smartest Mayor in our city’s history. And when you mix that with his daring, you get a powerful combination of genius with imagination. That was Charlie Wheeler. I will miss my friend, and the city will miss his ingenuity. We all owe him heartfelt gratitude for his public service, and I pray that his memory will be a blessing for all that had the privilege to know him."