Just after the Christmas–New Year’s Holidays in 2002, a packet from the vice president of the Wills and Trusts section of PNC Bank was delivered to The Pittsburgh Foundation’s offices. Inside was a letter announcing the death of Robert Nicholls Kohman, along with a copy of the trust agreement that was part of his will. No one connected to the Foundation knew him. He had never been to the Foundation’s public events and he wasn’t on the Foundation’s mailing list for publications. And while he had a professional career in his family’s commercial baking company and as a researcher at the Mellon Institute, no one in business or academia had referred him to the Foundation. But he had enough confidence in community philanthropy to direct $14.5 million from his substantial estate to establish the Robert N. Kohman Trust for Medical Assistance and Research at the Foundation. A note from a staff member who followed up after this extraordinary delivery quotes a bank official saying that Kohman had studied “the community foundation structure and was excited about The Pittsburgh Foundation awarding grants to do good continuously — far into the future.”
Kohman never married and had no direct heirs. He was, according to the few accounts available of his life’s activities, the scion of a prominent Pittsburgh family. His father, Henry A. Kohman, had founded the family business, Kohman Salt Rising Yeast & Improver Company, and was also a researcher at the Mellon Institute. Robert Kohman was a graduate of Yale and served as a Naval officer during World War II. He loved the opera, gardening and his golden retriever, Tyler, who was his main companion.
While his parents relished the society scene, he avoided the limelight and lived quietly. The few personal details gleaned from his will and trust fill him out as a man deeply committed to the value of scientific research and medical interventions that save lives. It’s clear that he was so devoted to Pittsburgh that he wanted to improve life prospects for future generations.
Between 2002 and 2019, the Kohman Fund grew to $20.9 million and awarded $7.2 million to support groundbreaking research including drug development for immunotherapy, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, and HIV/ AIDS. We look forward to its continued growth in the years to come. Were he alive today, I believe Kohman would be pleased by the evidence of our ongoing efforts to realize his dream of continuous philanthropy.
This fund profile is based on an article by former Pittsburgh Foundation President & CEO Maxwell King. Read King’s original story.