William Volker had no children, and he had hired Harold W. Luhnow, son of his sister Emma, to work for him. Born and reared in Chicago, Luhnow graduated from Kansas State University in 1919 and went to work for the company soon thereafter. Luhnow "was involved with a group that succeeded in overthrowing the Pendergast Machine in Kansas City," which acquainted him with Loren B. Miller of the Civic Research Institute. The Fund had assets in 1947 worth approximately $15 million. It operated with a single professional staff person, Herbert Cornuelle (1949–53), and Ken Templeton. In the 1960s the company and the Fund moved to Burlingame, California. The Fund was dissolved after Luhnow's death and its assets distributed to local Kansas City charities and to the Hoover Institution of Stanford University.