COVER STORY
John Kluge ’37, Businessman and Entrepreneur
“John Kluge [’37] ranks as one of the least known but
most powerful moguls in the modern television industry in the United
States,” according to the Museum of Broadcast Communications
in Chicago.
Born in 1914 in Chemnitz, Germany, Kluge immigrated when he was
8. He grew up in Detroit and won a scholarship that allowed him
to attend the College.
“Looking back at my life as an undergraduate at Columbia,
I remember it as a time of hard work — not only schoolwork,
but also the part-time jobs that helped my classmates and me to
get by in those years following the Depression,” Kluge said
in 1988, upon receiving an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the
University.
Kluge’s first job after graduation was at a printing company
in Detroit. During World War II, he served in the Army, becoming
a captain in military intelligence.
Embracing entrepreneurship, Kluge gradually acquired media outlets,
starting with a radio station, WGAY, in Maryland, and expanding
into other radio stations and then independent television stations.
He bought syndicated rights to television shows and movies, and
later invested in telecommunication technologies. Metromedia, the
company he built, grew into the largest independent television business
in the United States and diversified into other areas.
In 1986, Kluge sold his television interests to Rupert Murdoch
and became more involved with philanthropy. According to Forbes,
he was at that time the wealthiest individual in America.
In addition to endowing the Kluge Scholars Program at Columbia
with the largest gifts to the University by an individual, Kluge
has contributed generously to the Library of Congress, where he
formed the James Madison Council, a private sector advisory board.
He also founded there the Kluge Center, which brings scholars and
politicians together, and helped fund the National Digital Library
project, which makes the library’s educational resources more
accessible.
“I’d rather by far invest in people than buildings,”
Kluge says. “If I can help a person to improve his or her
mind, that will pass on to their children and to their children’s
children.”
S.B.B.
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