Herb Kohl, U.S. Senator

Herb Kohl was an American businessman and politician. Kohl also served as a United States senator from Wisconsin from 1989 to 2013 as a member of the Democratic Party.

Alongside his brother and father, Kohl founded the Kohl's department stores chain, of which he went on to be president and chief executive officer. He purchased the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association in 1985, keeping the team from relocating. Kohl was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1989 and was elected to four six-year terms.

Kohl was born and raised in Milwaukee, the son of Mary (née Hiken) and Max Kohl. His father was a Polish Jewish immigrant and his mother was a Russian Jewish immigrant. He earned a Bachelor of Science from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1956 and a Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard Business School in 1958. While an undergraduate, he joined the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity. Between 1958 and 1964, Kohl was a member of the United States Army Reserve.

After finishing graduate school, Kohl worked as an investor in real estate and the stock market, eventually spinning off his own company, Kohl Investments, to manage these assets. He and his brother became heirs to a family-owned chain that included 50 grocery stores and several department stores, pharmacies and liquor stores. In 1970, Kohl was named president of Kohl's and served until the corporation was sold to BATUS Inc. (formerly British American Tobacco) in 1978.

Kohl served as chairman of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin between 1975 and 1977.

Kohl purchased the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from Jim Fitzgerald in 1985 for $18 million to ensure the team remained in Milwaukee. In 2003, he considered an offer to sell the team to former NBA superstar Michael Jordan, but decided to retain ownership. On April 16, 2014, Kohl agreed to sell the Bucks for $550 million to New York-based billionaires Wes Edens and Marc Lasry.

Kohl won election to the U.S. Senate in 1988. Incumbent William Proxmire, a Democrat, did not seek reelection, and Kohl defeated Republican Susan Engeleiter in the general election. He was re-elected in 1994 against Robert Welch, in 2000 against John Gillespie, and in 2006 against Robert Lorge. On May 13, 2011, Kohl announced he would not run for re-election in 2012, saying, "The office doesn't belong to me. It belongs to the people of Wisconsin, and there is something to be said for not staying in office too long."

Kohl was the wealthiest resident of Milwaukee, the richest Jewish American from Wisconsin, and was one of the wealthiest U.S. senators. In 2016, Forbes estimated Kohl's net worth to be around $630 million to $1.5 billion.

Kohl was elected to the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame in 2007. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Sources

• "Herb Kohl." Wikipedia, revision of 27 December 2023. < link > Accessed 27 December 2023.
• McFadden, Robert D. "Herbert Kohl, Former Wisconsin Senator and Milwaukee Bucks Owner, Dies at 88." The New York Times, published 27 December 2023. < link > Accessed 27 December 2023.