Kenneth C. Beachler, the founding executive director of the Wharton Center for the Performing Arts at Michigan State University, died on June 6, 2023. He was 87. He had been dealing with declining heart-related health issues and died at home listening to classical music.
As director of the Lecture-Concert Series at MSU during the 1970s, Ken was instrumental in the planning and fundraising for the university’s first true performing arts center. He was named executive director 1981, while the center was still under construction. Opening night on Sept. 25, 1982, was a stellar occasion, with a performance by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and soprano Birgit Nilsson. APAP’s midwestern conference was held in East Lansing in conjunction with the center’s opening weekend. (This was before Arts Midwest ran the midwestern regional conference.)
Other highlights of Ken’s 11 years at the Wharton Center included the Broadway touring productions of “Barnum,” “Dreamgirls,” “Cats” and “Les Miserables” and in 1987 a New Year’s Eve gala starring the singer and actress Pearl Bailey.
Kenneth Clarke Beachler was born on Oct. 11, 1935, in Battle Creek, Michigan. In junior and senior high school, he had leads in two Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. He graduated from Belding High School in 1953 and shortly after moved to Chicago to study privately for a career in musical theatre.
At 21, he joined the US Army and was sent to Germany. The Army recognized his talent and soon put him in charge of producing and directing shows. Later, he joined the US Naval Reserves as a public affairs officer, and remained active in the Navy for many years, attaining the rank of Captain.
In 1959, WKAR AM/FM, MSU’s public radio station, hired Ken to be an announcer; while there he developed the station’s classical music format and hosted numerous programs. He graduated from MSU in 1963 with a BA in Communications and Media Studies.
After leaving the Wharton Center, Ken used his legendary voice, described at times as “velvet,” “beautiful” and “transcendent,” to serve as narrator and announcer for countless events throughout the mid-Michigan area, including 30 years as the emcee for the Lansing Concert Band. He always narrated the concert band’s Fourth of July concerts and looked really sharp in his Navy dress whites uniform.
Also after retiring from the Wharton Center, Ken became active in the vibrant mid-Michigan theater scene, directing and acting with virtually every company in the region. He won several awards for his productions at BoarsHead Theatre, Opera Company of Mid-Michigan, MSU theatre, Lansing Community College, Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, Riverwalk Theatre, and Peppermint Creek.
Ken was a longtime member of the Rotary Club of Lansing, serving as its president in 1988. For many years, he arranged for live performances by vocalists and musicians of all stripes, from classical to jazz, to open the club’s weekly meetings.
Ken is remembered by his friends and colleagues for his classy and elegant appearance, his unrelenting support for the arts, for his love of telling stories, for mentoring one and all, and for his engaging and magnetic personality that made everyone he encountered feel valued.
Memorial contributions are suggested to the Kenneth C. Beachler Arts Management Internship Fund, Wharton Center, 750 E. Shaw Lane, East Lansing, MI 48824. Ken established this internship fund to provide arts management students the opportunity to gain hands-on exposure while on the paid student staff at the center.
