State Sen. Wysong retires from Legislature

State Sen. David Wysong of Mission Hills has announced he is retiring from office effective Dec. 13.

Citing family considerations, Wysong will leave the Senate after a decade of serving in public office. Other posts included Mission Hills city councilman and Johnson County commissioner.

Wysong, who currently is chairman of the Johnson County Republican Party, was re-elected to a four-year Senate term in 2008. He first was elected in 2004 to represent the 7^th District, which takes in all or part of 10 communities in the northeast corner of Johnson County.

In addition to retiring from the Legislature, Wysong is leaving appointed positions on the Johnson County Education and Research Triangle Board, the Kansas Children’s Cabinet and the Board of Kansas Inc.

“I have enjoyed my public life experience but it is actually past time. I have met some amazing people along the way,” Wysong said.

The senator said he is leaving office with only one regret. His push for legislation instituting a statewide ban on smoking in public places passed in the Senate but failed to get House approval.

“I leave with great memories and a great sense of personal accomplishment,” Wysong said.

He serves as chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee and is a member of the Senate Ways and Means, Ethics and Elections, and Public Health and Welfare committees.

Locally, he is an advisory board member of the Shawnee Mission Education Foundation and a member of the Committee for Excellence in Shawnee Mission Schools.

Before forming Wysong Capital Management and the Wysong Family Foundation, he was president of Wysong, Quimby and Jones Advertising.

Wysong was appointed in 1997 to the original Bi-State Commission, which oversaw the Union Station renovation.

He is a past chairman of the Foundation on Aging, the Community Foundation of Johnson County and is past vice chairman of The Greater Kansas City Community Foundation.

The Wysong Family Foundation was formed by Wysong and his wife, Kathy. It was joined with another family foundation, the I.A. O’Shaughnessy Foundation. Together, they donated funds to a variety of charities and several school and cultural projects such as renovations to Rockhurst High School, the Prairie Elementary School gymnasium and the Shawnee Mission East High School auditorium.

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