Mel Carnahan's father was A.S.J. Carnahan, 8th District Congressman from Missouri for eight terms. He graduated from high school in Washington, D.C, and earned a BA in business administration from George Washington University. Carnahan entered the United States Air Force, rising ultimately to first lieutenant, and served as a special agent for the Office of Special Investigation. He received a J.D. degree from the University of Missouri School of Law in Columbia, Missouri, in 1959.
In 1980, Carnahan was elected Missouri state treasurer. He served in that post from 1981 to 1985. In 1988 he was elected Missouri lieutenant governor. In 1992, he faced Saint Louis mayor Vincent C. Schoemehl in the Democratic primary for governor. He was elected as governor of Missouri on November 3, 1992 and re-elected for a second term on November 5, 1996. As governor for two-terms coterminous with the term of U.S. President Bill Clinton, Carnahan became a powerful figure in Missouri politics.
In 2000, Mel Carnahan ran for U.S. Senate, opposing the incumbent Republican, John Ashcroft. It was a heated, intense campaign in which Carnahan traveled all over the state to garner support in what was a very close race. Late on October 16, 2000, a twin-engine Cessna airplane piloted by the Governor's son Randy Carnahan, crashed on a heavily forested hillside near Goldman, Missouri, about 35 miles south of Saint Louis, Missouri. All three occupants of the plane - Governor Carnahan, his son Randy, and Chris Sifford, campaign advisor and former chief of staff to the governor - died that night.
Early on October 17, 2000, Lieutenant Governor Roger Wilson was appointed to fill the Governor's office until January 2001. Because Missouri election law would not allow for Mel Carnahan's name to be removed from the November 7, 2000 ballot, Jean Carnahan, his widow, became the Democratic candidate unofficially. Many Missouri Democrats voted for the late Governor Carnahan, sporting "I'm Still For Mel" bumperstickers on their cars. As a result, Mrs. Carnahan was elected to the Senate and served until another heated campaign, in November 2002. In the special election, she was replaced by James Talent, Republican.
Mel Carnahan married Jean Carpenter in Washington, D.C. on June 12, 1954. They had four children: Russ Carnahan, currently in the Missouri House of Representatives and a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives; Tom Carnahan, a real estate developer; Robin Carnahan, a candidate for Missouri Secretary of State; and Roger "Randy" Carnahan, who piloted the plane and perished along with his father on October 16, 2000.
Source for some information: http://www.treasurer.missouri.gov/history/MelCarnahan.doc