Henry Kravis...Do Gooder?

Van Deward Woods, owner of Sylvia's Restaurant, a popular Harlem soul food eatery, and billionaire Henry R. Kravis don't have much in common. Woods, son of founder Sylvia Woods, serves up fried chicken and ribs on a gritty Lenox Avenue block where street vendors blast rap music. The offices of Kravis' firm, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., soar above tony West 57th Street, offering dazzling views of Central Park.

Their lives, however, have become curiously entwined. Kravis' creation, the New York City Investment Fund, has dedicated a team of executives, led by former Liz Claiborne Chief Executive Jerome A. Chazen, to consider an investment in Sylvia's. The fund also has introduced Woods to key food company executives to provide strategic advice about expanding his company, possibly putting Sylvia's canned collard greens and yams in supermarkets nationwide and bringing jobs to Harlem. "To meet the chief executive of one of the largest food companies in the world..." the African-American entrepreneur marvels. "It was almost spiritual for me."