Alfred R. Kahn - Career

Career

Further information: 4Kids Entertainment

Born in Brooklyn to Murray and Lilyane Kaplan Kahn, Alfred R. Kahn is a graduate of C.W. Post College at Long Island University. Previously the head of the licensing division for Coleco, Kahn joined Leisure Concepts, Inc., turning that company to 4Kids Entertainment, for which he became Vice Chairman in July 1987 and later Chairman and CEO in 1991. 4Kids eventually became the largest trading entity in North America in the 1990s due to its success of licensing Japanese anime series Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh! among many others, as well as producing American series like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Cabbage Patch Kids. Kahn has been the executive producer for numerous other 4Kids properties, including G.I. Joe Sigma 6 and Cubix.

In September 2002, Kahn founded the National Law Enforcement and Firefighters Children's Foundation to help the children of law enforcement personnel and firefighters and fund anti-drug and anti-violence programs. Kahn also serves on the Board of Directors of the Federal Drug Agents Foundation, the Children's Tumor Foundation, the Stephen Gaynor School for Learning Difficulties, Long Island University, and Bette Midler's New York Restoration Project.

On June 22, 2005, LIMA, the International Licensing Industry Merchandisers' Association, inducted Kahn into the Murray Altchuler Licensing Hall of Fame for his "continual and outstanding" contributions to the licensing industry for over 10 years. Over those 10 years, Kahn and 4Kids had licensed such huge and popular properties such as Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Cabbage Patch Kids, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Kahn also won the 2006 Spirit of Achievement award from the National Center for Learning Disabilities.

In December 2007, Kahn was a panelist in the ICv2 Conference on Anime and Manga in New York City. There, he commented about the Japanese manga industry that "mainga (sic) is dying in Japan".This particular comment sparked some derisive comments from fans. Rich Johnson of Yen Press replied to the previous comment, stating that manga was still a billion dollar industry in a down phase.

Kahn retired as the CEO of 4Kids Entertainment on January 11, 2011.

Read more about this topic:  Alfred R. Kahn

Famous quotes containing the word career:

    ““Never hug and kiss your children! Mother love may make your children’s infancy unhappy and prevent them from pursuing a career or getting married!” That’s total hogwash, of course. But it shows on extreme example of what state-of-the-art “scientific” parenting was supposed to be in early twentieth-century America. After all, that was the heyday of efficiency experts, time-and-motion studies, and the like.”
    —Lawrence Kutner (20th century)

    “Like the old soldier of the ballad, I now close my military career and just fade away, an old soldier who tried to do his duty as God gave him the light to see that duty. Goodbye.”
    —Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964)

    “Clearly, society has a tremendous stake in insisting on a woman’s natural fitness for the career of mother: the alternatives are all too expensive.”
    —Ann Oakley (b. 1944)