MOSES LAKE — Kevin Fuhr, it’s generally agreed, was a force of nature. 

“Man, that guy just kept moving,” said Moses Lake Police Chief David Sands, who succeeded Fuhr as chief in 2023. “I know there were times he probably relaxed, but by and large, he was always on the go.” 

Fuhr, who passed away last week after a hard-fought battle with cancer, brought the same energy to everything he did, according to those who knew him, serving Moses Lake as police chief, city manager and chair of the Moses Lake School Board. 

“When he came over to Moses Lake, it was just an absolute blessing for the community here,” Grant County Sheriff Joey Kriete said. “He's always been 100% in on whatever he does, and I knew when he came to Moses Lake, it was going to be no different.” 

Legal legacy 

Kevin Fuhr grew up in Moscow, Idaho, and finished high school in Kennewick, according to the Columbia Basin Herald archives. He wore the uniform for the Kennewick and Ritzville police departments, then for the Adams County Sheriff’s Office, where he worked his way up to undersheriff.  

“Chief Fuhr will be missed,” Adams County Sheriff Dale Wagner said in a statement. “Our condolences, thoughts and prayers for Chief Fuhr’s family. Our community, and others he served, honor his legacy and leadership.” 

Fuhr’s opportunity to lead his own department came in 2007, when he took the job of chief of police in Rathdrum, Idaho. True to form, Fuhr wasted no time getting things done. 

“He immediately wanted to talk to all of us and see what we felt the department needed and could use, and the goals that we wanted to see,” said RPD Interim Chief Brandon Friis, who was a patrol officer at the time. “He tried to meet those goals and to fulfill our expectations and those wishes and wants. He was very good at seeing that the needs of the department were met in tandem with making sure that the community wasn't overburdened with having to increase property taxes. He was able to penny-pinch and make things work with the limited budget that he had.” 

In 2013, Rathdrum was named the seventh-safest city in Idaho under Fuhr’s leadership, the only North Idaho city to make that list. 

“He moved the department forward,” Friis said. “The previous chief, the one that he took over for, had worked as the chief of police for 30 years and retired. Kevin came in and brought us into the 21st century. He changed the way we policed by … using technology more than we ever had before.” 

Fuhr took every one of his officers personally, Friis said. When a young officer died in an off-duty motorcycle crash, Fuhr spoke at his memorial service. 

“At what was a very sad and tragic event, Chief Fuhr was able to take some of that officer’s quirks and as he was speaking, he made us feel just a little bit better,” Friis said. 

As MLPD chief, Fuhr immediately gained the respect of the law enforcement community. 

“One thing that we were working on together was how to improve the partnership between the Moses Lake Police Department and the sheriff's office,” Kriete said. “When I got elected, Kevin and I had such a friendship foundation … it was so easy to talk to him about things that were on our minds, things that we both had interest in to try to make things better in the community. We both came to the conclusion that our bad guys don't know the boundaries for the city of Moses Lake and rural Grant County, so we just had to be on the same team. We wanted our specialized units to work together and be partners and come together with our resources. It was so easy to do because we had that friendship foundation first, and so it made the professional side of things extremely easy.” 

Solving problems 

Fuhr knew how to get things done, Sands said, attacking problems head-on.  

“He was not always a patient guy,” Sands said. “When he set his mind to something, he wanted it, and he couldn't understand that there was maybe a process that took a little bit longer than what he wanted. But he had the ability to be laid back and say, ‘Hey, let's go, let's go.’” 

That mindset can rub people the wrong way, but Fuhr never did; to the contrary, many people spoke of his gentle, respectful demeanor. 

“What jumped out to me is how genuine a guy he was, and that rang true throughout my relationship with him,” said Moses Lake Mayor Dustin Swartz. “He just generally wanted to help people and get things done. He was always willing to acknowledge the other side of the coin, and he’d say, ‘Yes, not everybody will win here.’” 

“I saw him get angry exactly twice in seven years,” Sands said. “He just took things as they came … I think that's a valuable lesson, saying, ‘Hey, let's just figure out what we’ve got before we start worrying.’” 

Fuhr brought that same dynamic to the school board, to which he was elected in 2022. 

“We became quick and fast friends,” said Shannon Hintz, who served with Fuhr for three years on the board. “Kevin was very tough on things, but he had a lot of compassion when it came to people and circumstances … He was a really, really good leader; he was quick and fast with getting things done. He was a no-nonsense guy. He wanted things fixed, wanted things taken care of, not a lot of ‘blah, blah,’ and we appreciated that.” 

Fuhr’s dedication to the community was recognized in 2023, when the Moses Lake Community Coalition not only named him Person of the Year, but actually renamed the award after him. 

“When either the city or the schools or anybody needs somebody competent to do their work, Kevin Fuhr’s name is the first on the list,” coalition Vice Chair Matt Paluch said when he presented the award.  

When Moses Lake went through a turbulent time in city management, Fuhr twice stepped up and served as interim city manager. Finally, in October 2023, he accepted the position full-time. He brought the same combination of energy and level-headedness to that position as he had to law enforcement, Swartz said. 

“The way that he comported himself, you always felt like the right solution was come to, (or rather) the best that we could do. That was a common refrain from Kevin, ‘I'll do my best.’ And that’s really the most you can ask from anybody, and that's something that's increasingly rare.” 

Fuhr appointed Sands, his second in command, as his successor to the chief’s desk, which meant Sands had some big shoes to fill, he said. 

“(Was I ready) to follow him?” Sands said. “No, no. I could do the job, but following an intensely popular chief, that took a moment to think about. It made me kind of hiccup after I said yes, and started thinking about who exactly I was following in this position. It was like, ‘Yikes!’” 

At the ceremony when Fuhr and Sands were both sworn in for their new roles, they bantered about who had learned more from whom. But Sands said Friday he certainly learned a few things from Fuhr. 

“I think I’ve learned more about dealing with people (from) how he dealt with folks,” Sands said. 

The last task 

In 2022, Fuhr encountered an adversary he could neither arrest nor face down nor come to an agreement with: cancer.  

The disease had started in his gallbladder and spread, and doctors told him he could expect to live another six to 12 months at the most. He met that challenge, like all the others, head-on. In August 2023, Fuhr led a group of officers and community members on a fundraising walk to support the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, where he had been receiving treatment. His health ebbed and flowed over the next few years, and he retired from both the school board and the city in June 2024. Still, he was able to pursue his hobbies of water skiing and wakesurfing, and in 2024, he was honored as the grand marshal in the SpringFest Grand Parade.  

“We decided that, ‘You know what, this isn’t a death sentence,’” Fuhr told the Columbia Basin Herald in 2023. “We’re going to fight until we can’t fight anymore.” 

That day finally came July 21, when Fuhr passed away surrounded by his family. He left behind not only a wife and a daughter, but a grateful community. 

“I think he tended to have more of a sense of humor about things than he let on,” Swartz said. “He had his priorities in order; his family, his friendships, were important to him, the relationships that he had with people, not only in our community, but all over Washington state.” 

“I loved the guy,” Kriete said. “The community is not going to be the same without him. He left a legacy here for all of us to strive to be better. He really did.” 

Editor’s Note: Kevin wasn’t just a partner for other law enforcement agencies. Here at the Columbia Basin Herald, he was our partner in making sure information got to the communities we serve as well. He was kind. He was compassionate. He was honest. He was our friend. Our hearts go out to his family. Thank you, Emily and Jordan, for sharing him with the Columbia Basin. He always told me how proud he was to be your husband and father. We know Kevin’s legacy will live on in officers to whom he passed on a mindset for service, integrity and dedication to community. Kevin once told me that he couldn’t be vulgar about his experiences with cancer, but he coolly acknowledged, “Cancer sucks.” We could not agree more.  

    Kevin Fuhr, shown here at his first job as police chief in Rathdrum, Idaho, served 32 years in law enforcement and never lost his love for it.
  

    Kevin Fuhr is sworn in as Moses Lake Police chief in 2016.
  

    Moses Lake Police Chief Kevin Fuhr is safe at third during the Battle of the Badges against the Moses Lake Fire Department in August 2016.
  

    Kevin Fuhr takes a ducking in the dunk tank at National Night Out in 2018.
  

    Moses Lake School Board President Kevin Fuhr congratulates an Open Doors graduate in 2022. Fuhr was an advocate for young people pursuing their educations.
  

    Moses Lake City Manager Kevin Fuhr poses with his wife Emily, left, and daughter Jordan after his transition from police chief to city manager in 2023.
  

    Moses Lake City Manager Kevin Fuhr, right, receives the Person of the Year Award, now renamed the Kevin J. Fuhr Person of the Year Award, from Moses Lake Community Coalition Vice Chair Matt Paluch in December 2023.
  

    Retiring Moses Lake City Manager Kevin Fuhr expresses his gratitude to the city and its residents during his last Moses Lake City Council meeting in June 2024.
  

    Kevin Fuhr is honored as the grand marshal in the 2024 SpringFest parade.