DC Lewer

Early in his life, DC “Chuck” Lewer learned the value of hard work. He worked his family’s dairy farm during the Great Depression in Medford, Wisconsin, attending a one-room schoolhouse. It was there that he met Mary Louise Lewer (Novak) at a wedding where he asked her to dance, sparking their 72-year love story. 

After Chuck hitchhiked to California at age 18, he proposed to Mary via a postcard, leading her to accept the proposal and board a train westward. The two married in Santa Barbara in 1947. 

After discovering his penchant for sales, Chuck began a career with Southland Life Insurance Co. in Fort Worth, Texas, and was honored by Insurance Salesman Magazine as the #1 producing life insurance agent in the United States in 1961.

Determined to build something of his own, Chuck launched The Lewer Agency in 1956 at age 28. He often cited his drive of “vim, vigor and vitality,” and his success was grounded in principles of ethics, transparency, hard work, and service. In fact, he was known to drive hundreds of miles to personally deliver life insurance checks to grieving spouses. 

As the business grew, his entrepreneurial spirit drove him to relocate to Kansas City to better serve national accounts. Under his leadership, Lewer Companies expanded into an international organization known for designing creative and affordable retirement and health benefit programs that helped independent businesses attract and retain talent.

Chuck also had a nose for art and real estate. A talented painter in his own right, he befriended Thomas Hart Benton and commissioned one of Benton’s last paintings, The Benton Farm, which now hangs in The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. 

Over the next 60 years, Chuck would relocate the company to The Country Club Plaza, acquiring nearby properties to form what is now known as the “Lewer Block”, which is currently being developed in partnership with a Kansas City based development company.  

Chuck ultimately retired in 2004. His legacy continues to shape the company today, as it remains rooted in the values he lived by: passion, discipline, selflessness, perseverance—and above all—faith, hope, and love.