Joseph E. Stern

Do not confound with Joseph Stern. Aka Joe Stern. b.: June 1, 1896 in New York, NY d.: January 17, 1968 in Kansas City, MO American composer and conductor who composed the song "Kansas City, My Home Town." A Kansas City realtor by day, Stern served as director of the Heart of America Chorus and was one of the driving forces behind the Kansas City chapter (est. 1938) of the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America, Inc. (SPEBSQSA) and the Society's National and International Secretary-Treasurer from 1941-1947. Stern drafted the Society's first judging rules for its singing contest in 1941. He also led his own barbershop quartet, called the Kansas City Serenaders.