Reinhard Mohn (29 June 1921 – 3 October 2009) was a German billionaire businessman and philanthropist. Under his leadership, Bertelsmann, once a medium-sized printing and publishing house, established in 1835, developed into a global media conglomerate. In 1977, he founded the non-profit Bertelsmann Stiftung, which is today one of the largest foundations in Germany, with worldwide reach. Mohn received numerous domestic and international awards, including the Knight Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, and Spain's Prince of Asturias Award. Life Background Born in 1921 as the fifth child of Agnes Mohn (née Seippel) and , Reinhard represented the fifth generation of the shareholding families of Bertelsmann. In 1887, his grandfather, , had taken over the management of the printing and publishing house from his father-in-law, , son of Carl Bertelsmann. Raised in a strict Protestant family, Mohn earned his German baccalaureate (Abitur) at the Evangelisch Stiftische Gymnasium Gütersloh in 1939 and went on to complete his Reichsarbeitsdienst, the official labor service of the Third Reich. Afterwards, he volunteered for military service with the Luftwaffe, originally with the aim of becoming a pilot. After serving in an air-base command on the Western Front, Mohn was stationed with an anti-aircraft unit, advancing in rank from private to sergeant, and in 1942 achieving the rank of lieutenant. From France, via Italy, his regiment was moved to Tunisia. On 5 May 1943, Mohn became a U.S. prisoner of war, and in mid-June, he was taken to the United States, to Camp Concordia, an internment center in Kansas for German prisoners of war. According to Mohn's accounts, he was profoundly influenced by this experience; as one example, he began reading American management literature for the first time. In January 1946, Reinhard Mohn returned to Gütersloh. His oldest brother, Hans Heinrich Mohn, had died in 1939, and Sigbert Mohn, his second-oldest brother, was still a prisoner of war. Reinhard initially took an apprenticeship as a bookseller, and later joined his father's business. His father, Heinrich Mohn, had come under the scrutiny of British occupation authorities because he was a supporting member of the SS, because he had donated to other Nazi organizations, and for other reasons. In April 1947, Heinrich Mohn transferred his publishing license to his son Reinhard, who managed the publishing business from then on. Family In 1948, Mohn married Magdalene Raßfeld, whom he knew from his