(ReliableNews.org) – Herbert Kohl served in the US Senate for 24 years. He also served as the chairman of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. Those who knew him are now mourning his death.
On December 27, Kohl died at his home in Milwaukee at the age of 88. According to reports, he passed away after a brief illness. Kohl wasn’t just a US senator. The first-generation Jewish American attended Harvard Business School and graduated with a Master of Business Administration degree in 1958. He served in the US Army Reserve and worked as a real estate and stock market investor after school.
Kohl helped his family build a retail empire. When his father, Maxwell Kohl, immigrated to the US, he opened a corner grocery store in 1927 in Milwaukee. In 1972, the British American Tobacco Company bought a controlling interest in Kohl’s. At that point, the family owned six department stores, several liquor stores and pharmacies, and 50 grocery stores. From 1970 to 1979, Kohl served as the president.
In 1985, Kohl purchased the Milwaukee Bucks for $18 million. He owned the team for 29 years. In 1989, he was elected to the Senate and served until 2013. During his time in Congress, he served as the chairman of the Senate Aging Committee.
The New York Times reported that although Kohl was one of the richest members in the US Senate, with more than $265 million in assets, his colleagues found him to be kind and modest. He believed the government should pass balanced budgets and supported a constitutional amendment to require it.
Kohl also stopped taking money from special interest groups early in his Senate career. In 2016, he told a reporter he did it because it “detracted from [his] ability to do [his] job well,” and he believed the country needed to get money out of politics.
Governor Tony Evers (D) has ordered the flags to fly at half-staff until Kohl’s funeral.
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