Late Tuesday morning, current Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe announced the passing of former U.S. Senator and Missouri Governor Christopher S. "Kit" Bond.
Governor Kehoe also signed a proclamation ordering U.S. and Missouri flags to be flown at half-staff at all government buildings statewide on Tuesday until sunset on May 22, 2025.
To those who knew and worked with him, he was described as a "devoted husband, father, and grandfather, whose life’s work was dedicated to serving Missouri". Kit Bond died on May 13, 2025, in St. Louis at the age of 86.
The State Memorial Service honoring the life and legacy of Governor Kit Bond will be held on Tuesday, May 20, in the Rotunda of the Missouri State Capitol at noon. The service will be livestreamed on Governor Kehoe's Facebook Page. The public is invited to attend. His official obituary can be found on the Missouri Governor's website.
Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe released a statement on the death of Kit Bond.
“Kit Bond was a skilled statesman, public servant, and a man who truly loved Missouri. I am blessed to have known Kit and honored to call him a friend and a mentor.
“Kit, always with his trademark smile and sense of humor, was a fierce advocate for Missouri throughout his accomplished 40-year career of public service. Kit kept Missouri’s interests at heart, both in office and out, making our state a better place to live, work, and raise a family. Whenever he was thanked for his service, Kit's response was always, 'Serving the people of Missouri was the honor of my life.'
“His legacy as a ‘favorite son’ to his beloved State of Missouri lives on through all he achieved for his home state. Kit touched the lives of so many men and women throughout his career, and today, I join them in grieving the loss of a good man. Just as they will miss their friend and mentor, so will I. On behalf of all Missourians, Claudia and I share our deepest condolences and offer our prayers for his wife Linda, his son Sam, and the entire Bond family.”
We spoke with Dr. Jeremy Walling, a professor at Southeast Missouri State University, who joined the Department of Political Science, Philosophy, and Religion in 2002.
He reflected on the death of former Missouri Governor and Senator Kit Bond. Walling, who grew up in Missouri, recalls Bond's moderate governorship and his bipartisan approach to politics.
"I grew up here, and Kit Bond was the governor when I was born, and then he was the governor again when I was a kid, and I was old enough to kind of know what a governor was. And to me, what he represents is a time when politics in the state was bipartisan and collaborative", said Professor Walling.
He contrasts this with the current political climate, noting the shift from Missouri being a bellwether state to a more polarized one. Professor Walling continued to speak about the unique qualities of the late Kit Bond as a statesman, standing in contrast to the current political environment, even within the state.
"You know, his first term, I think everybody kind of agrees that he, even though he's a Republican, governed as a moderate. And, you know, even in his second term, he wasn't overwhelmingly conservative. I think that once he got into the Senate, he kind of was exhibiting a little more conservatism, but also still a willingness to collaborate and be bipartisan and cross the aisle and so forth", Walling said.
A sixth-generation Missourian, Bond was born in St. Louis on March 6, 1939. He grew up in Mexico, Missouri, to parents Elizabeth and Arthur Bond.
Bond graduated Cum Laude from Princeton University in 1960 and received his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1963, graduating at the top of his class.
Following law school, Bond clerked for Chief Judge Elbert Tuttle of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, working on the enforcement of groundbreaking desegregation cases. Though this work was not advertised or well-known, it impacted Bond and his future actions in elected office.
His obituary stated that his quiet faith as a lifelong member of the Presbyterian Church, can be credited for starting his 40 years of public service to Missouri. In 1969, he began as an Assistant Attorney General under former Senator John Danforth.
Kit won his first statewide election in 1970 as State Auditor. At age 33, Kit Bond became the 47th Governor of Missouri in 1973, the youngest Governor in the state’s history, and the first Republican to occupy the Governor's mansion since 1945.
Reflecting on the storied life of Kit Bond, SEMO Professor Walling also provided some insight into the length of the late statesman's career.
"When I was reading the little tributes to him, the other thing that kind of stood out to me was that it noted that he was—and still is— the youngest governor when he was elected for his first term. And I saw this picture of him, and he just looks like a kid, you know. And again, you know, it's just I couldn't believe... he was 86...I couldn't believe it, like, it just seems like it wasn't that long ago that he retired from the Senate", said Walling.
Looking back on his earlier career, after losing reelection in 1976, Bond joked, “Experience is what you get when you expect to get something else.” Bond redoubled his efforts and came back to earn re-election to a second term as Governor in 1980.
While Governor, Bond became a father and was known for quipping that, when he left the hospital with his son, Sam, all they got was a box of diapers and instructions to use a car seat, when what he really needed was a training manual for babies.
Fortunately, as he often recounted, he discovered Parents as Teachers resources, and from that point on, he wanted all Missouri families to have the same help navigating sleepless nights, milestones, and the ABCs. Bond took the program statewide as Governor in 1984. Later in the Senate, he worked to export the program to families throughout the U.S. and the world, one of his proudest achievements.
Faced with a majority Democratic legislature and massive budget problems, then-Governor Bond soon learned the only way to govern was through bipartisan compromise. A lesson that would later earn the future Senator the well-deserved reputation as a statesman able to forge bipartisan compromises on thorny issues as varied as the landmark Family Medical Leave Act, first-of-its kind birth defects prevention legislation, an acid rain trading compromise, safe and affordable public housing reform, and emergency legislation to close critical gaps in our terrorist intelligence collection efforts.
After his second successful term as Governor, Bond continued his service to Missouri by winning election to the United States Senate in 1986. That year, Bond was the only Republican to capture a seat previously held by a Democrat. Missouri voters then returned Bond to the U.S. Senate in 1992, 1998, and 2004.
Bond announced that he would not seek re-election to a fifth term in 2010, on January 8, 2009. He was succeeded by fellow Republican Roy Blunt on January 3, 2011.
In his obituary, the organizations listed as "especially important" to Kit Bond included:
Parents As Teachers, St Louis, MO; The Christopher S Bond Community Health Scholarship Program in care of The Missouri Community Health Foundation, Jefferson City, MO; Central Missouri Food Bank, Columbia, MO; and the Handi-Shop, Mexico, MO.
Tributes from 'Missouri Independent'
As a senator, Bond became known for his work on the Senate Intelligence Committee, his commitment to national defense, and, as illustrated by buildings like the Christopher S. Bond Life Sciences Center at the University of Missouri, the source of earmarked federal funds for local projects.
In a tribute on the Senate floor in 2010, U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat, praised Bond as a fighter and a man of honor.
“There was never a doubt in all of these years of Kit Bond’s service that this was not a man of the very highest integrity,” McCaskill said. “And finally, a work ethic. And gee howdy, Missourians want a work ethic. They want somebody who understands that they are working hard and they want to see you working hard, and that is exactly what Senator Bond has done for these 42 years.”
At a retirement dinner in Bond’s honor in 2010, Thomas Payne, then-dean of the University of Missouri’s College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, hoisted a large cardboard cutout of an ATM machine with Bond’s face on it in reference to the numerous appropriations Bond helped secure for the school.
“You’re the chief purveyor of porcine products,” Payne said.
In a 2009 article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Bond defended earmarks.
“Trusting local leaders and empowering them to fund critical projects that serve a compelling state or local need is a much better way to help Missouri,” Bond wrote.
Following the news of his death, Gov. Mike Kehoe paid tribute to Bond. In a statement, Kehoe called Bond “a skilled statesman, public servant, and a man who truly loved Missouri. I am blessed to have known Kit and honored to call him a friend and a mentor.”
During the legislative session Tuesday, state Sen. Lincoln Hough, a Springfield Republican, announced Bond had died and also paid tribute to him.
“The impact of Kit will outlive everyone in this chamber, everyone who serves in the House of Representatives, and his impact will outlive governors,” Hough said. “We don’t have a lot of people like that anymore. We have a lot of people who want a quick hit and post on social media. It is lucky to have lived in a time that he didn’t have to put up with a lot of that crap.”
Former governor and U.S. Sen. Kit Bond in a portrait for the lobbying firm Kit Bond Strategies, formed after he retired from elective office in 2011 (Image via Kit Bond Strategies website). Other remembrances of Bond hit similar themes.
Former U.S. Sen. Jack Danforth, who was attorney general during Bond’s first term as governor and worked alongside him in the U.S. Senate from 1987 to 1995, called Bond a role model of a public servant.
“Kit Bond was one of the most consequential people in the history of our state,” Danforth said. “At each level of his career, he knew the responsibilities of the job he was elected to do, and he did that job very well. As a U.S. Senator, he focused on results for Missouri. From highways and bridges to Parents as Teachers, his contributions are tangible.”
U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt, a Republican who now holds the seat Bond held, said he was sad to hear of his death.
“Kit proudly served our state as governor and then in the U.S. Senate for 24 years, with his trademark sense of humor and dedication to making Missouri the best state in our union,” Schmitt said. “He helped to improve the lives of generations of Missourians across the Show Me State.”
State Senate President Pro Tem Cindy O’Laughlin, a Republican from Shelbina, said in a statement that Bond never lost touch with his Missouri roots.
“Missouri lost a giant today,” O’Laughlin said. “Kit Bond dedicated his life to serving this state with integrity, humility, and an unshakable commitment to doing what was right. Kit Bond was more than a statesman. He was a pillar of Missouri history and a steady hand during uncertain times. From serving as one of our youngest governors to decades in the U.S. Senate, his life was defined by a deep commitment to public service.”
One of the most difficult political puzzles of Bond’s second term as governor was how to divvy up the $600 million in bonds for state construction. Former state Rep. Chris Kelly, a Columbia Democrat elected in 1982, said Bond finessed that job well.
Bond kept his eye on the goal of the bond issue, which was to generate jobs and economic growth, Kelly said.
“He got lots of people to work in the state, building infrastructure that we needed very badly,” Kelly said.
Kelly, who was in office from 1983 to 1994 and served again from 2009 to 2015, said the current legislature isn’t living up to that legacy. The decision to kill a capital spending bill with more than $500 million of projects for communities around the state is an example, Kelly said.
“His great achievement was this $600 million bond issue,” Kelly said, “and it’s tragically ironic that the legislature would fail to do what he did so well on the occasion of his passing.”
Portions of this story, which included 'tributes', were originally published by Rudi Keller in Missouri Independent, a States Newsroom and news partner with KRCU Public Radio.
