Herbert Vollrath Kohler Jr. was an American billionaire businessman, a member of the Kohler family of Wisconsin, and the executive chairman of the Kohler Company, a manufacturing company in Kohler, Wisconsin, best known for its plumbing products. When he died, his net worth was estimated at US$7.6 billion

Kohler was a golf fan, and the Kohler Company owns and operates four courses designed by Pete Dye. At Black Wolf Run there is the River Course and the Meadow Valleys Course. At Whistling Straits there is the Straits Course and the Irish Course. The first course built was Blackwolf Run which is south of the village of Kohler along the Sheboygan River.

Herb Kohler siblings: Ruth DeYoung Kohler II, Frederick Cornell Kohler

Kohler was born Feb. 20, 1939, to Herbert Kohler Sr. and Ruth Myriam DeYoung. He was the oldest of three. He had a sister, Ruth DeYoung Kohler II, and a brother Frederick Cornell Kohler, both of whom preceded him in death.

Kohler graduated from Yale University in 1965, after spending time at a couple of other colleges. He started at Yale but left after a year and went to Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, where he studied theater and met Linda Karger, whom he married in 1961.