Great Living Cincinnatians are recognized for their entrepreneurial and civic presence locally, nationally, nationally or internationally; leadership; knowledge of the needs of others, and what was done differently that brought positive attention to their community, organization or organization.
The 2025 honorees are: Jim Anderson, Dolores Lindsay, Chuck Scheper and Geraldine “Ginger” B. Warner.
Chuck Scheper was named a 2025 Great Living Cincinnatian by the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber.
Chuck Scheper is a grateful man. Perhaps that is to be expected, 32 years after beating a devastating Stage 4 cancer diagnosis. Every year since is part of the renewal of life. But it’s more than that.
“One of the things I promised myself after that was I always wanted to look back five years and say, ‘I wouldn’t change a thing,'” Scheper said. “It made me make some pivots in my work to take on some problems and opportunities that arose.”
As the self-proclaimed “accidental” mayor of Covington for 14 months. Or sitting in the chairman’s chair at Bexion Pharmaceuticals, helping to raise funds for a promising new cancer drug.
“I don’t think I’ve ever started again,” Scheper said. “Because all my jobs are kind of connections (when) opportunities arise.”
Not that he doesn’t deserve it. A graduate of Thomas More College with a degree in accounting, he began his career as a staff accountant for Price Waterhouse in 1974. Scheper moved to the consumer agency Union Central, then to Manhattan National Life Insurance, followed by seven years at Pioneer Financial Services. He retired from Great American Financial Resources as chief operating officer, in 2010. Then came Bexion, and he defected to the mayor.
But we’ll get to that in a minute.
Born in 1952 and raised in Edgewood, Scheper grew up in a large and loving Catholic family, the middle of nine children. He met his wife, Julie, and they married in 1977. They went in with friends to buy a place at Fifth and Russell in Covington, gutting the place, spending several years and thousands of hours renovating it.
“It really (started) our love for the city,” Scheper said. “When we got married, I’m sure we thought, ‘We’re going to work for a while, start a family, move to the suburbs. But that’s not how it worked. But it’s still a very good plan. “
The Schepers spent 10 years trying to have children. After two miscarriages and multiple fertility treatments, they decided to remain childless. They focused on teaching, especially through the Covington Partners Organization, which Julie, a school counselor, helped found and is now called Partners for Change. Julie tutored a teenager named Lesley, and Chuck tutored his younger brother Chris. The four are still close today, 18 years later.
“The line they had was, ‘Teach one student and change two lives,’ and it’s true,” Scheper said.
In 1992, they bought their next fix, the historic Carneal House in Covington. Scheper had been promoted to president of Manhattan National Life Insurance. Then he felt a lump in his neck.
“Within a few weeks, (I) found out that I had Stage 4 cancer, and the books said it was incurable,” he said.
It was non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Scheper was 39 years old. Looking for a second opinion, he found Dr. Lee Nadler at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. He proposed a clinical trial, which included a bone marrow transplant.
“We all fear cancer, and I was no different,” Scheper said. “But there is something – and I cannot explain it other than grace – that came to me, that as soon as I met Dr. calmness came over me. I was not afraid to die. I knew that there was a good chance that I would die. But it’s hard to explain… I said, ‘Okay, I’m ready for the game. Tie a belt around your chin 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. Over two days, he had a “mega” dose of chemo – about a thousandth the size of what he had in the previous six months – followed by three days of whole-body radiation.
“Nurses affectionately call it a trip to Chernobyl,” Scheper said. “It’s like (of) standing in front of a reactor when it exploded.”
Today, he is cancer free. He is still friends with Nadler, crediting him and Julie with saving his life.
And now, the mayor bit. In 1999, Scheper chaired a commission that investigated the performance of the city of Covington. The “Scheper Report” would have saved money but was not adopted. Fast forward to 2011. Scheper had retired. Two of Covington’s biggest employers were leaving. Union agreements were suspended. The mayor at the time resigned and Scheper was asked to replace him. He said no – at first. But then he remembered his own advice: Would he regret saying no, five years down the road?
“So I became the reluctant mayor, by accident, of Covington, to fill out a 14-month mayoral term,” said Scheper.
Under his leadership, the Scheper Report was implemented, reducing the budget by 5 million dollars. Scheper has held numerous board positions and has been instrumental in revitalizing Covington’s business district, particularly through the Catalytic Development Funding Corporation of Northern Kentucky. He invested early in Bexion and became a board chair, a position he still holds today. Scheper continues to keep his promise to himself.
“It gives you license to change, if change is needed,” he said. “Just making sure you’re always doing things that are meaningful and important.”
3 Questions with Chuck Scheper
What advice do you have for the next generation of Cincinnatians/Covingtonians?
“Get involved early in your career and reach out to a mentor if you can.”
Do you have a motto or creed that you live your life by?
“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 have never existed before and ask, ‘Why?'”
Who has been an inspirational person in your life?
“My father was a role model, a self-made man who had a great job but was always at home for dinner.”
This article originally appeared on the Cincinnati Enquirer: Chuck Scheper is a Great Living Cincinnatian