DEATH COMES TO RICHARD GENTRY.
Pioneer of Kansas City's Commercial Life Had Been Ill 5 Years.
At his home, 2000 Troost avenue, in the house in which he had built in 1882, two years after coming to Kansas City, Richard Gentry, a pioneer in Kansas City commercial life and widely known for his connections with many large activities of the West, died yesterday afternoon at the age of 69 years. He had been in poor health for the last five years.
Mr. Gentry was chief engineer and principal builder of the Kansas City, Nevada & Fort Smith railway, which later was merged into the Kansas City Southern. He was general manager and president of the road which he was instrumental in building. Besides this activity he was a cattle raiser, a mine operator, interested in a shoe factory in Kansas City and at one time was a director in the old Bank of Commerce. He owned the Exchange building, now occupied by the Board of Trade and other offices. The Gentry residence on Troost avenue has been one of the prominent homes of the city for many years.
Surviving Mr. Gentry are his widow and these sons and daughters: Richard H. Gentry of Sedalia, Mo.; M. Butler Gentry of Santiago, Chile; the Misses Elizabeth and Mary Gentry of Kansas City; Mrs. Edward R. Noble of San Francisco and Mrs. William H. Bush of Chicago.
Mr. Gentry was born near Columbia, Mo., on November 11, 1846. He was a student of Wentworth Military academy at Boonville. While at the academy he ran away and joined Price's army as it marched through Boonville in 1864. He served as a private and later as a sergeant major until the close of the war. He was in the battle of Westport. After the war he attended Missouri university, graduating with the class of 1869.
A genealogy of the Gentry family entitled, "The Gentry Family in America, 1676-1909," was written by Mr. Gentry. It is in all of the public libraries in the larger cities of this country, as well as in the London and Paris libraries and in libraries in the Orient. Mr. Gentry was a member of the Kansas City Club, the lcoal chapter of the Sons of the Revolution, the Psi Kappa Psi, the Phi Beta Kappa and the Engineers' Club.
The funeral services will be held at 3 o'clock this afternoon at the home. Burial will be in Forest Hill cemetery. The Rev. J. D. Ritchey, pastor of St. Paul's Episcopal church, will have charge of the services.
