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Chester Louis Mize

Politician. Republican. Born: December 25, 1917, Atchison, Kansas. Died: January 11, 1994, La Jolla, California. Served in U.S. House of Representatives, 2nd District: January 3, 1965, to January 3, 1971.

Born on Christmas day 1917 and raised in Atchison, Kansas, Chester Mize attended the local public schools and, from 1935 to 1939, the University of Kansas School of Business Administration. He joined the United States Naval Reserve in 1940, served on active duty in the South Pacific Theater throughout the Second World War (awarded the Bronze Star with Combat V), and was released to inactive service as a lieutenant commander in 1945. Mize worked as treasurer of a hardware company from 1945 to 1951, as vice president of Locomotive Finished Materials Company from 1951 to 1958, and as vice president of Valley Co., Inc., from 1958 to 1964; he also owned and operated a cattle ranch in New Mexico and a farm in Atchison County. A past member of the Atchison School Board, chairman of the board of trustees of Atchison's Mount St. Scholastica College, and member the School of Business Administration Advisory Board and the athletic board of the University of Kansas, Mize sought and won a seat to the Eighty-ninth Congress in 1964. He was twice reelected (served, January 3, 1965-January 3, 1971) but was an unsuccessful in his bid for a fourth term in 1970. The former Kansas congressman served as chairman of United States Tariff Commission in 1971 and subsequently moved to La Jolla, California, where he died on January 11, 1994.

Entry: Mize, Chester Louis

Author: Kansas Historical Society

Author information: The Kansas Historical Society is a state agency charged with actively safeguarding and sharing the state's history.

Date Created: June 2011

Date Modified: May 2012

The author of this article is solely responsible for its content.