Background
He was born in Newark, New Jersey and was raised in Rochelle Park, New Jersey.
He was born in Newark, New Jersey and was raised in Rochelle Park, New Jersey.
He received an Bachelor of Arts degree from Seton Hall University in 1964 and studied graduate sociology at Rutgers University from 1964-1966.
Kohut was the founding director of the Pew Research Center and served as director of the Pew Research Center"s Global Attitudes Project. Kohut served as the center"s president from 2004 to 2012 and directed the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press from 1993 to 2012. Kohut was a regular guest on National Public Radio, television news programs such as Public Broadcasting Service NewsHour, and the editorial pages of major newspapers like the New York Times, where he presented Pew"s poll results and analysis.
From 1979-1989, Kohut was president of the Gallup Organization, and in 1989 he founded Princeton Survey Research Associates, an attitude and opinion research firm specializing in media, politics and public policy.
He is a past president of the American Association for Public Opinion Research and the National Council on Public Polls. His essays have appeared in the op-ed section of the New York Times and he has been a regular columnist for the Columbia Journalism Review and America Online News.
Kohut was the co-author of four books, most recently America Against the World (Times Books). Kohut died of chronic lymphocytic leukemia on September 8, 2015 at the age of 73.