Robert F. Bennett
Politician, governor. Republican. Born: May 23, 1927, Kansas City, Missouri. Married: Mildred Joan Gregory. Married: Olivia A. D. Fisher, July 16, 1971. Died: October 9, 2000, Johnson County, Kansas. Served as 39th Governor of Kansas: January 6, 1975, to January 8, 1979.
Born in Kansas City, Missouri, on May 23, 1927, Robert F. Bennett practiced law in Johnson County and held several local offices before winning election to the state senate in 1964. He married Olivia A. D. Fisher on July 16, 1971. He was president of the senate when he won the Republican Party's 1974 gubernatorial nomination and the subsequent general election contest. This was the first election in which candidates for Kansas governor and lieutenant governor ran as a team and were elected to four-year, instead of two-year, terms. Bennett was an unsuccessful candidate for a second term in 1978. He returned to his Johnson County law firm and home, where he died on October 9, 2000.
- Governor Bennett's official records are at the University of Kansas Spencer Research Library
- Governor Bennett material on Kansas Memory
Entry: Bennett, Robert F.
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: March 2016
The author of this article is solely responsible for its content.
