David Hamilton Koch was an American businessman, political activist, philanthropist, and chemical engineer.
40 Facts About David Koch
2.
David Koch became president of the subsidiary Koch Engineering in 1979, and became a co-owner of Koch Industries in 1983.
3.
David Koch served as an executive vice president of David Koch Industries until he retired due to health issues in 2018.
4.
David Koch was the 1980 Libertarian candidate for Vice President of the United States and helped finance the campaign.
5.
David Koch founded Citizens for a Sound Economy and donated to advocacy groups and political campaigns, most of which were Republican.
6.
David Koch was the fourth-richest person in the United States in 2012 and was the wealthiest resident of New York City in 2013.
7.
David Koch was born in Wichita, Kansas, the son of Mary Clementine and Fred Chase David Koch, a chemical engineer.
8.
David Koch was the third of four sons, with elder brothers Frederick, Charles, and nineteen-minute-younger twin Bill.
9.
David Koch attended the Deerfield Academy prep school in Massachusetts, graduating in 1959.
10.
David Koch attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology, earning both a bachelor's and a master's degree in chemical engineering.
11.
David Koch was a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity.
12.
David Koch played basketball at MIT, averaging 21 points per game at MIT over three years, a school record.
13.
David Koch held the single-game scoring record of 41 points from 1962 until 2009, when it was eclipsed by Jimmy Bartolotta.
14.
In 1970, David Koch joined David Koch Industries under his brother Charles, to work as a technical-services manager.
15.
David Koch founded the company's New York City office and in 1979 he became the president of his own division, Koch Engineering, renamed Chemical Technology Group.
16.
Legal disputes against Charles and David Koch lasted roughly two decades.
17.
David Koch served as an executive vice president of David Koch Industries until retiring due to health issues in 2018.
18.
David Koch was the Libertarian Party's vice-presidential candidate in the 1980 presidential election, sharing the party ticket with presidential candidate Ed Clark.
19.
David Koch credited the 1976 presidential campaign of Roger MacBride as his inspiration for getting involved in politics:.
20.
David Koch wanted less government and taxes, and was talking about repealing all these victimless crime laws that accumulated on the books.
21.
David Koch gave his own vice presidential campaign $100,000 a month after being chosen as Ed Clark's running mate.
22.
Subsequently, David Koch shifted the bulk of his financial support to the Republican Party, though he continued to contribute to several Libertarian campaigns in local races.
23.
David Koch donated to various political campaigns, most of which were Republican.
24.
David Koch supported policies that promoted smaller government and lower taxes.
25.
David Koch said he wasn't sure if global warming was anthropogenic, and thought a warmer planet would be "good", with lengthened growing seasons mitigating problems caused by disappearing coastlines and mass migrations.
26.
David Koch served as its Chairman of the board of directors and donated funds to it.
27.
David Koch was the chairman of the board and gave initial funding to the Americans for Prosperity Foundation and to a related advocacy organization, Americans for Prosperity.
28.
David Koch sat on the board of the libertarian Cato Institute and Reason Foundation and donated to both organizations.
29.
David Koch was elected to the Board of Trustees of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2008.
30.
David Koch was a member of the Board of Trustees of WGBH-TV.
31.
David Koch served on the executive board of the Institute of Human Origins.
32.
David Koch was a benefactor of the Deerfield Academy, his alma mater.
33.
David Koch said his biggest contributions go toward a "moon shot" campaign to finding the cure for cancer, according to his profile on Forbes.
34.
David Koch was the fourth-richest person in the United States in 2012 and was the wealthiest resident of New York City in 2013.
35.
In February 1991, David Koch was a passenger on board USAir Flight 1493 when it collided with another aircraft on a runway at Los Angeles International Airport, killing 35 people.
36.
David Koch survived and said in an interview in 2014 that it helped change his life and prompted him to become "tremendously philanthropic".
37.
David Koch underwent radiation, surgery, and hormone therapy, but the cancer repeatedly returned.
38.
David Koch said he believed his experience with cancer encouraged him to fund medical research.
39.
The apartment "wasn't roomy enough" after the birth of their third child, so David Koch sold it to billionaire Glenn Dubin in 2006 and moved with his family to 740 Park Avenue.
40.
David Koch died at his home in Southampton, New York, on August 23,2019, at the age of 79.