| May 10, 2001 - The man behind the wildly popular Pokemon,
Donkey Kong, and the Cabbage Patch dolls will be honored
by his alma mater with a Distinguished Alumni award at
C.W. Post's 43rd annual commencement ceremonies on May
13, 2001. Alfred R. Kahn, chairman and CEO of 4Kids Entertainment,
Inc., licensed these and other successful characters and
has built a successful business that rivals the likes
of Disney and Universal Studios.
Distinguished Alumni Awards are presented to C.W.
Post graduates who have achieved professional success
and who serve as role models to students. Kahn will
be honored along with another distinguished alumnus:
Anne Putterman Summers, a managing director at Morgan
Stanley and 1977 graduate.
Kahn learned early on the value of hard work. He was
just 16 when his father died, forcing Kahn to find work
to help support the family. He worked as a bartender
and a bouncer during his four years at C.W. Post, where
he majored in business. He graduated from C.W. Post
in 1984, and his first "real" job as a buyer-trainee
at Allied Stores, he was asked to help unload trucks
in the toy department. He was hooked. While working
for Coleco Industries in the 1980s as executive vice
president for marketing, he discovered and licensed
the Cabbage Patch dolls. He followed up that success
by licensing the popular Donkey Kong character.
Kahn has been picking winners ever since. He recently
spearheaded two new divisions of his global children's
entertainment and merchandise-licensing company - Website
4Kids and Technology 4Kids - and licensed three animated
programs for debuts on television this Fall: "Cubix!
Robots for Everyone," "Tama and Friends"
and "Yu-Gi-Ho." A native of Massapequa, he
lives in Manhattan with his wife, Patsy. As the name
of his corporation suggests, they have four children.
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