Dean Kumpuris

Dean Kumpuris is Little Rock's at-large city director. He has served on the Little Rock Board of Directors since 1995. Kumpuris is also the city representative to the William J. Clinton Presidential Library, chairman of the UALR Board of Visitors, and member of the Little Rock Advertising and Promotion Commission and XV Men's Club.

Kumpuris was a prominent local booster for the proposed Clinton Library site on the east side of downtown. He began working on site selection for the library on April 15, 1997, seven years before the dedication took place in 2004. With his brother and sister Kumpuris also established a $500,000 endowment for the Frank and Kula Kumpuris Distinguished Lecture Series at the Clinton School of Public Service in honor of his parents. He also raised more than $309,000 in private donations for the Sculpture Promenade from the front steps of the Library to the River Market District.

Kumpuris worked closely with city officials and downtown developer Jimmy Moses to establish the River Market. The $3.5 million market complex was approved by taxpayers as part of the sweeping 1995 River Project, proposed to mitigate the economic effects of decrepit warehouse and industrial brownfield areas along both the north and south banks of the Arkansas River, expand the Statehouse Convention Center on Markham Street, and build ALLTEL Arena in North Little Rock. Kumpuris spearheaded the River Market Task Force that guided completion of the River Market part of the River Project. In 1995 Kumpuris called the project "a prime example of the way our city can accomplish great things when we work together."

He is the originator of Arkansas Commitment, a college preparation and scholarship consortium for promising black high school students.

Kumpuris is a local gastroenterologist and graduate of Emory University Medical School. He received his bachelor's degree from Washington & Lee University.

Kumpirus' father Frank Kumpuris was a Little Rock surgeon. He has a brother Drew Kumpuris and a sister Katherine Ann Kumpuris Trotter. Kumpuris has a son Andrew Kumpuris.

Dean Kumpuris Street on the Clinton Presidential Center campus is named in his honor.

References

• Andrew DeMillo, "5 Statues to Greet Visitors Entering Presidential Park," Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, June 21, 2004.
• Charlie Frago, "Six Sculptures Debut, Lining Way to Library," Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, November 15, 2004.
• Van Jensen, "Kumpuris Family Gives Clinton School $500,000," Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, November 27, 2006.

External links

• City of Little Rock biography of Dean Kumpuris