Billionaire financier Jerome Kohlberg, a World War II Navy vet who went to college and two graduate schools on the GI Bill, recently took part in another successful mission – pushing for improved educational benefits for Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans.
Kohlberg, 83, angry that a skimpier GI bill enacted in 1985 was “completely inadequate” given the cost of college today, launched the Campaign for a New GI Bill.
Congress passed the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act in June, and President Bush signed it into law.
Also last year, Kohlberg, a founding partner of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., established his own $8 million Fund for Veterans’ Education, a national college-scholarship program that has so far helped over 300 returning vets.
“I took matters into my own hands and tried to help,” Kohlberg said by phone from his Mount Kisco office about his scholarship fund.
Kohlberg’s crusade is “from the heart,” said Sheila Pion, of Queens, an Army reservist who served in Iraq and now attends John Jay College of Criminal Justice on a scholarship from Kohlberg’s Fund.
Pion nominated Kohlberg for a Post Liberty Medal in the Lifetime Achievement category.