The Life on Purpose Scholarship is a program of The Mistler Family Foundation, which was founded in 1991 by brothers Richard and Tom Mistler. The foundation has evolved and divided since then and is now managed by Richard’s children and grandchildren. Richard also endowed a donor-advised fund at the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation, which now manages this scholarship program.

Richard had a successful career in personal investment management in Kansas City for over 50 years. His passion was helping people achieve their goals, not only financially but personally and professionally. A proud alum of Kansas State University, he devoted years of service to supporting the university and investing in programs aimed at helping students identify their personal potential and providing learning opportunities to leverage their talents for lifelong success. 

His giving included decades of support for The Blue Key Chapter at KSU and the development of the student-led Catalyst program. Later, he worked with the Dean of Students, Dr. Pat Bosco, and the Staley School of Leadership Studies to make the StrengthsFinder program accessible to every student. KSU is now a national model for integrating the Strengths program campus-wide.

The goals of The Life on Purpose Scholarship program were modeled after many of the concepts Richard valued, and expanded by his children, Megan and John, based on their own personal and professional experiences. The result is a scholarship program that focuses on creating a supportive community that engages social and emotional learning experiences for college students over the four years of the program.