Jan Kulczyk

Jan Kulczyk was born on June 24, 1950 in Bydgoszcz, Poland. He studied law at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań and foreign trade at the Poznań University of Economics and Business. He received a doctorate in political sciences and international law in 1975. He was also a researcher at the Institute for Western Affairs in Poznań, where he dealt with German issues. He started his business career in 1981, when he founded his first company with money from his father Henryk. The Interkulpol joint-venture was one of the first international trade companies formed in Poland after the second world war. In 1988, Kulczyk became the official Volkswagen dealer in Poland. His first large-scale deal was a sale of 3,000 Volkswagen cars delivered to the Polish police and the security services in the early 1990s. In 1991, Kulczyk Holding a limited liability company was founded. In 1993, the company changed its legal form into a joint-stock company. Kulczyk held the post of the chairman of the supervisory board. He invested in various sectors, such as telecommunications, insurance, oil and gas, energy, infrastructure, real estate and brewery. He was involved in the privatization of state-owned enterprises, such as Telekomunikacja Polska, Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa, TUiR Warta and PKN Orlen. In 2007, Kulczyk reorganized the Kulczyk Holding Group into Kulczyk Investment House, later known as Kulczyk Investments. His company had offices in Luxembourg, London and Kyiv, and operated in Europe and Africa. According to Forbes, Kulczyk was the richest Pole at the time of his death, with an estimated net worth of $4 billion. Kulczyk was also a philanthropist, who supported various cultural and social initiatives. He was the largest private donor to the Museum of the History of Polish Jews, to which he gave $5.5 million. He also funded scholarships for talented students, scientific research, environmental protection and sports. He received many awards and honors, such as the Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, the Patron of Culture medal, the European Medal of the Business Centre Club and the Golden Hipolit Award. Kulczyk died on July 29, 2015 in Vienna, Austria, from complications of cardiac surgery. He was buried at the Jeżycki Cemetery in Poznań, Poland. He was survived by his ex-wife Grażyna, his son Sebastian and his daughter Dominika, who are also involved in business and philanthropy.