Born in 1952 and raised in Edgewood, Scheper grew up in a large and loving Catholic family, the middle of nine siblings. He met his wife, Julie, and they married in 1977. They went in with friends to purchase a property at Fifth and Russell in Covington, gutting the place, spending several years and thousands of hours renovating.
“It kind of got our love for the city really [started],” said Scheper. “When we got married, I’m sure we were thinking, ‘We’ll work for a little while, start the family, move to the suburbs. But that wasn’t the plan that ultimately worked. But it’s still a pretty good plan.”
The Schepers spent ten years trying to have children. After two miscarriages and many fertility treatments, they decided to remain childfree. They turned their focus to mentorship, particularly through the Covington Partners Organization. (Which Julie, a school counselor, helped found,, now known as Partners for Change.) Julie mentored a teen named Lesley, and Chuck mentored her younger brother Chris. The four remain close to this day, 18 years later.
“The tagline they had was, ‘Mentor one student and change two lives,’ and it’s really true,” said Scheper. “
In 1992, they purchased their next fixer-upper, the former carriage house of the historic Carneal House in Covington. Scheper had been promoted to president of Manhattan National Life Insurance. Then he felt a lump on his neck.
“Within a couple weeks, [I] found out that I had stage 4 cancer, and the books said it wasn’t curable,” he said.
It was non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Scheper was 39. Looking for a second opinion, he found Dr. Lee Nadler at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. He suggested a clinical trial, which included a bone marrow transplant.
“We all fear cancer, and I was no different,” said Scheper. “But there was something – and I can’t interpret it other than grace – that came upon me, that once I met Dr. Nadler and heard the aggressive approach he was going to take, with the best shot at curing the cancer, I had a calmness that came over me. I wasn’t fearful of dying. I knew that there was a good likelihood that I would die. But it’s hard to explain…I said, ‘Okay, I’m ready for the game. Buckle your chin strap and let’s go.’”
Scheper received chemotherapy for six months before the bone marrow transplant in Boston. He was in the hospital for 30 days. For two days, he had “mega” doses of chemo – about 1,000 times the magnitude of what he had in the prior six months – followed by three days of total body radiation.
“The nurses affectionately refer to it as a trip to Chernobyl,” said Scheper. “It is effectively the equivalent [of] standing in front of the reactor when it blew up.”
Today, he’s cancer-free. He’s still friends with Dr. Nadler, crediting him and Julie with saving his life.
And now, the mayor bit. In 1999, Scheper led a commission reviewing the city of Covington’s operations. The “Scheper Report” would save money but was largely unadopted. Fast forward to 2011. Scheper had retired. Two of Covington’s major employers were leaving. Union contracts were stalled. The then-mayor resigned and Scheper was asked to replace him. He said no – at first. But then he considered his own advice: Would he regret saying no, five years down the road?
“So I became the reluctant, accidental mayor of Covington, to fill out the mayor’s term of 14 months,” said Scheper.
Under his leadership, the Scheper Report was implemented, reducing the budget by ~$5 million. Scheper has held many board positions and was instrumental in the revitalization of Covington’s business district, particularly through the Catalytic Development Funding Corporation of Northern Kentucky. He invested early in Bexion, and became board chair, a position he holds to this day. Scheper continues to keep his promise to himself.
“It gives you license to change, if change is necessary,” he said. “Just to make sure you’re always doing things that are meaningful and significant.”
Three Questions with Chuck Scheper
What advice do you have for the next generation of Cincinnatians/Covingtonians?
Get involved early in your career and latch onto a mentor if you can.
Do you have a motto or creed by which you live your life?
One of my favorite quotes is from George Bernard Shaw: “Some men see things as they are and ask, ‘Why?’ I dream of things that never were and ask, ‘Why not?’”
Who has been an inspirational figure in your life?
My dad was a role model, a self-made man who had a big job, but was almost always home for dinner.
