Herb Kohler Boldly Led His Private Company to Global Growth, Relentless Innovation & Customer Delight
During a 43-year period, from 1972 to 2015, that Herb Kohler (1939-2022) boldly led Kohler Co. as CEO, the organization – which primarily had made plumbing products, engines and generators for North American customers – transformed itself into a global, diverse juggernaut focused on products and services for living environments and ensured that anyone who came in contact with the KOHLER brand would find delight with the experience.
Herb expanded the company’s kitchen and bath offerings far beyond functional plumbing products to decorative works of art and high design, sophistication, and convenience. The company’s other core business – energy resiliency – evolved from making gasoline and diesel engines to power off-road equipment, as well as generators to power myriad applications such as homes, hospitals, RVs and construction sites, to today as one of the world’s largest power and distributed energy companies.
Later in his career, he parlayed his deep respect for history and preservation to create a five-star hospitality portfolio that paid homage to its iconic origins while providing guests with world-class resort services and amenities, including luxurious guest rooms, unique spa offerings, casual to fine dining, and championship golf.
Described as an independent-minded entrepreneur, courageous innovator, and passionate creative, Herb lived and breathed Kohler Co.’s mission of providing customers with gracious living each day.
“If I sell you a bathtub, there has to be something about it that gives you pleasure not only at the time of the transaction. Years later, we want you to think this is one of the best buys of your life,” he once said in an interview. “The same applies with everything we provide – an engine, generator, toilet, table, hotel room, spa service, golf course, you name it. If you think about it five years later and, inwardly or outwardly, it makes you smile and we can do this consistently, then we’re living up to our mission.”
In the early 1970s, Herb created a force with THE BOLD LOOK OF KOHLER that forever changed the American bathroom and kitchen, transforming what were once utilitarian spaces into statements of design, style, sophistication, and craftsmanship.
THE BOLD LOOK OF KOHLER began in 1967 as a unique program of beautifully designed toilets, bathtubs, sinks and other fixtures in unique colors supported by imaginative consumer advertising. But under Herb’s watch, it went beyond a corporate promotion to become a bold new guiding spirit for the company and its associates, positioning them on the leading edge of everything they set out to do, while maintaining a single, high level of quality in the company’s products, processes, and services.
Herb invested in state-of-the-art manufacturing technologies, revitalized the company’s tradition of product innovation, and launched bold brand-awareness advertising campaigns geared toward consumers – taking the KOHLER kitchen and bath brand to number one on a global scale and never looking back.
He invested in new designs, products, manufacturing facilities, and distribution strategies. Realizing the opportunity to compete in the changing world marketplace, he gave the company and the KOHLER brand new global perspective and greater presence by adding production, distribution and marketing across the globe. He took the company into new businesses with nearly 50 acquisitions over his tenure.
He thoroughly enjoyed the creative process – from reviewing 30-second television commercial storyboards to testing new products personally by soaking in a whirlpool bath or sampling a decadent piece of KOHLER chocolate. He designed many of the company’s products himself and held more than 200 design and utility patents.
In the late 1970s, Herb convinced skeptical colleagues to develop The American Club – originally built as an immigrant workers’ dormitory in 1918 – into a luxury spa and resort. The Board of Directors twice rejected the idea, but he persisted. Today, The American Club is the Midwest’s only AAA Five Diamond Resort Hotel, a member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Historic Hotels of America program, and among a handful globally to have both the AAA Five Diamond and Forbes Five-Star designations.
During The American Club’s early years, guests asked Herb why the resort offered transportation to local golf courses, but no golf course itself. The question ultimately inspired first a partnership and then deep friendship with hall-of-fame golf course designer Pete Dye. The pair had a vision that brought forth what some have called the most spectacular 72 holes of championship golf in America, and put his beloved home state of Wisconsin on the map as a global golf destination.
Blackwolf Run opened in 1988. Whistling Straits came 10 years later, transforming a polluted, abandoned airfield site into a world-class golf experience evoking the seaside links courses of the British Isles – right down to the flock of Scottish Blackface sheep Herb acquired that still roam the grounds today.
Herb’s next golf adventure took him to the game’s birthplace in St Andrews, Scotland, where he bought a hotel alongside the legendary Old Course and turned it into the Old Course Hotel Golf Resort and Spa and added The Duke’s – a heathland golf course outside of town. His most recent golf project was closer to home where he was the co-designer of the enjoyable 10-hole, par-3 Baths of Blackwolf Run golf course that debuted in June 2021.
The Kohler courses have hosted six Major golf championships to date, including one of the most exciting PGA Championships on record at Whistling Straits in 2015. In 2021, in perhaps the culmination of his legacy and passion for golf was hosting the 43rd Ryder Cup – which many golf experts called the best-ever in the 94-year history of the storied competition.
Herb found strong inspiration in the life of his uncle, Walter J. Kohler Sr., who led Kohler Co. from 1905 until his death in 1940. The elder Kohler often quoted a business principle coined by 19th century English critic John Ruskin: “Life without labor is guilt, labor without art is brutality.” The quotation resonated with Herb, who saw business as a process that thrived on creativity, provided constant challenges, and offered a means by which to help others. He worked diligently to be a positive influence in his community and was an ardent supporter of the arts, the environment and historic preservation.
Working closely with his sister Ruth and the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Herb helped establish an innovative Arts/Industry residency program that invites artists into the Kohler factories to work alongside production associates turning out stunning works of handcrafted sculptures of art made from plumbing product materials, such as vitreous china, cast iron and brass. To date, more than 500 artists have participated in this unique residency that intersects art and manufacturing.
Herb also established and chaired the Kohler Trust for the Arts and Education, the Kohler Trust for Preservation, and the Kohler Trust for Clean Water. He served as President of the Kohler Foundation that provides hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarships annually, sponsors a Distinguished Guest Series that brings internationally recognized performers to Sheboygan County and manages the Waelderhaus, a replica of the Austrian home of company founder – and Herb’s grandfather – John Michael Kohler that is open to the public.
Herb Kohler received numerous accolades, awards and hall-of-fame inductions. The National Kitchen and Bath Hall of Fame inducted him in its founding year of 1989, followed by the National Housing Hall of Fame in 1993. Ernst & Young named him National Entrepreneur of the Year in Manufacturing in 2002, and Junior Achievement inducted him into its U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 2006.
In 1997, Herb earned the Ellis Island Medal of Honor for “exemplifying American ideals and preserving an Austrian heritage.” In 2018, the University of St Andrews presented Herb with an Honorary degree, Doctor of Laws for demonstrating a lasting commitment to the town and people of St Andrews. Historic Hotels of America and Historic Hotels Worldwide recognized Herb in 2018 as the recipient of its annual Steward of History and Historic Preservation award for The American Club.
In 2016, Herb earned the Old Tom Morris Award from the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America; the award recognized his “indelible mark on golf and focus on the importance of environmental stewardship.” Then in 2019, the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame enshrined Herb as part of its 69th class for transforming Wisconsin into a worldwide golfing destination and bringing six golf Major Championships to Wisconsin and the 43rd Ryder Cup in 2021.
Herb Kohler passed away at age 83 on September 3, 2022, but he leaves behind an extraordinary legacy of business success, a zest for living life to the fullest, and enhancing the lives for those who have come to experience KOHLER in some fashion.
