Peter Kohl (born 28 August 1965) is a German businessman and author, who resides in
Switzerland. He is the younger son of former German Chancellor
Helmut Kohl
Helmut Josef Michael Kohl (; 3 April 1930 – 16 June 2017) was a German politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998 and Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to 1998. Kohl's 16-year tenure is the longes ...
and
Hannelore Kohl
Johanna Klara Eleonore "Hannelore" Kohl (née Renner; 7 March 1933 – 5 July 2001) was the first wife of German Chancellor Helmut Kohl. She met him for the first time at a school party in Ludwigshafen, Allied-occupied Germany in 1948, when she w ...
, and brother of
Walter Kohl.
He grew up at the family home in
Ludwigshafen-Oggersheim. Kohl attended the
Waldorf school
Waldorf education, also known as Steiner education, is based on the educational philosophy of Rudolf Steiner, the founder of anthroposophy. Its educational style is holistic, intended to develop pupils' intellectual, artistic, and practical ...
in
Ludwigshafen and the Liselotte – Gymnasium (secondary school) across the river in
Mannheim
Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's ...
. He was also schooled in the UK and at the Jesuit
Lycée la Providence in Amiens, France. He is a reserve officer and served for two years in the
Paratrooper Battalion 263 (Bundeswehr), now Paratrooper Regiment 26. He holds a BSc. in economics from
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
(MIT) and a master’s degree in economics from the
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich hist ...
.
After working for 8 years as an investment banker at
Credit Suisse London, and in corporate finance and capital markets at
Salomon Brothers
Salomon Brothers, Inc., was an American multinational bulge bracket investment bank headquartered in New York. It was one of the five largest investment banking enterprises in the United States and the most profitable firm on Wall Street durin ...
, he co-founded an independent corporate finance advisory and fund management firm. While taking a one year sabbatical in 2003, he studied Biotechnology whilst reading for a
Master of Bioscience Enterprise programme at the
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...
. While at Cambridge, he co-founded, grew and later successfully exited a biotech company. He has lived in London for 17 years.
His interests include new start-up ventures, technology and fixed income opportunities and has run equity and fund-of-hedge funds. He is an aviation enthusiast and has been a PPL, multi-engine, IFR-rated pilot.
In May 2001, he married his long-time girlfriend, the Turkish-born banker
Elif Sözen, whom he had met in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
whilst both were undergraduates at
MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...
. She is the daughter of a wealthy industrialist from Istanbul, Dr. Kemal Sözen, the head of the metal company Kale Kalip Makina Sanayii.
Kohl’s wife formerly worked with Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan in London. At the time of their marriage, they had already lived together for over ten years, eight of them in London, most recently in Chelsea. She speaks six languages including German. Reflecting the multicultural nature of the event, the celebration in Istanbul
)
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code = 34000 to 34990
, area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side)
, registration_plate = 34
, blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD
, blank_i ...
lasted three days and three marriage ceremonies were involved: a Roman Catholic marriage, a Muslim marriage and a (Turkish) civil marriage. Noting Chancellor Kohl's opposition to admitting Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
to the European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
, an English newspaper asserted excitedly that "the marriage of Peter Kohl and Elif Sözen ... adthe potential to transform German attitudes towards race".
They have a daughter, Leyla, born in 2002. It was reported in 2009 that Leyla had spent time in Turkey to learn Turkish. After the death of Helmut Kohl, Leyla Sözen-Kohl visited her grandfather's house in Ludwigshafen together with her uncle Walter Kohl and cousin Johannes Volkmann, but were denied entry to the house by Helmut Kohl's second wife Maike Kohl-Richter.
In 2002 he published a biography of his late mother, co-written with Dona Kujacinski, which received much media attention after her suicide in 2001.
Bibliography
* ''Hannelore Kohl.'' Droemer, München 2002; second ed.: Knaur, München 2013, .
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kohl, Peter
1965 births
Living people
Businesspeople from Rhineland-Palatinate
Peter
Peter may refer to:
People
* List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* Peter (given name)
** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church
* Peter (surname), a sur ...
People from Ludwigshafen