Kathryn J. Whitmire

Kathryn J. "Kathy" Whitmire (born 29 October 1946) was Mayor of the city of Houston, Texas, from 1982 to 1991.

Whitmire was a professor at the University of Maryland, College Park where she taught political science classes in the Burns Leadership Academy. Whitmire was the daughter of Ida Reeves and Carl Neiderhoffer. She was married to James M. (Jim) Whitmire who died in 1976. Whitmire holds a BBA and MSA. She is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA).

Whitmire was the first female elected to Houston city government. She was first elected City Controller and then Mayor of Houston. She served five continuous terms as Houston's Mayor, during a downturn in the economy. She also served as the president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and Texas Municipal Leagure. She also served six terms on the Board of Directors of the New York Stock Exchange. She was the first Mayor to appoint an African American, Lee P. Brown, as Houston's police chief. Brown later would also become mayor. She also appointed the first Hispanic, Sylvia R. Garcia, as presiding judge of the Houston Municipal Court. Garcia later ran for Houston City Controller and Harris County Commissioner. Whitmire also drafted a major Monorail mass transit plan that was quickly killed off by Bob Lanier, her successor.

In 2001, Whitmire was featured on VH1's "I Love the 80s" program due to her resemblance to Dustin Hoffman's character "Tootsie", a comparison that had been made while she was in office.

Whitmire remarried in 2002 to Alan Robert Wehmer and is currently living in Hawaii, where she is in the real estate business.

Texas State Senator John Whitmire is her ex-brother-in-law.