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* [[Koch family]]
* [[Koch family]]
* [[Koch Industries]]
* [[List of billionaires]]
* [[List of billionaires]]
* [[Political activities of the Koch family]]
* [[Tea Party movement]]


==References==
==References==

Revision as of 23:15, 19 August 2011

David H. Koch
Born (1940-05-03) May 3, 1940 (age 84)
Wichita, Kansas[1]
CitizenshipUnited States
EducationChemical engineer
Alma materM.I.T., bachelor's (1962)
master's (1963)
OccupationExecutive vice president Koch Industries
Known forPhilanthropy to cultural and medical institutions;
Political advocacy in support of libertarian and conservative causes[2][3]
Political partyLibertarian (before 1984), Republican
Opponent(s)Ran on Libertarian ticket for Vice President in 1980 election against Carter–Mondale, and Reagan–Bush
Board member ofAspen Institute, Cato Institute, Reason Foundation
SpouseJulia M. Flesher Koch[4][5]
Childrenthree
Parent(s)Fred C. Koch, father
Relativessiblings Frederick R. Koch, Charles G. Koch and William I. Koch
AwardsHonorary Doctor of Humane Letters - Cambridge College;
Corporate Citizens Award - Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars[1]

David Hamilton Koch (/[invalid input: 'icon']ˈkoʊk/; born May 3, 1940) is an American businessman, philanthropist, political activist, and chemical engineer. He is a co-owner (with older brother Charles) and an executive vice president of Koch Industries, a conglomerate that is the second-largest privately held company in the U.S.[7] Koch is the second-richest resident of New York City as of 2010.[3][6]

He is a major patron of the arts; a funder of conservative and libertarian political causes, including some organizations that fund some organizations within the American Tea Party movement.[3][8] Among other charities, he has contributed to Lincoln Center, Sloan Kettering, a fertility clinic at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and the American Museum of Natural History's David H. Koch Dinosaur Wing.[9] The New York State Theater at Lincoln Center, home of the New York City Opera and New York City Ballet was renamed the David H. Koch Theater in 2008 following a gift of 100 million dollars for the renovation of the theater. Condé Nast Portfolio described him as "one of the most generous but low-key philanthropists in America."[10]

Early life and education

Born in Wichita, Kansas, Koch is one of four sons of Mary (née Robinson) and petroleum industrialist Fred C. Koch. He attended the Deerfield Academy prep school in Massachusetts, graduating in 1959. He went on to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), earning both a bachelor's (1962) and a master's degree (1963) in chemical engineering.

He established an MIT record in basketball by scoring an average of 21 points per game over three years, and held MIT's single-game scoring record of 41 points, from 1962 when he was captain of the team,[3] until it was broken in early 2009 by Jimmy Bartolotta.

In 1970, David joined Koch Industries. Nine years later, he would become the president of Koch Engineering.[11]

Political career

Koch was the Libertarian Party's vice-presidential candidate in the 1980 presidential election, sharing the party ticket with presidential candidate Ed Clark. The Clark–Koch ticket promised to abolish Social Security, the Federal Reserve Board, welfare, minimum-wage laws, corporate taxes, all price supports and subsidies for agriculture and business, and U.S. Federal agencies including the SEC, EPA, ICC, FTC, OSHA, FBI, CIA, and DOE.[2][12] The ticket proposed legalization of prostitution, recreational drugs, and suicide.[2] The ticket received 921,128 votes, 1.06% of the total nationwide vote,[13] the Libertarian Party national ticket's best showing to date.[14] The Koch brothers were proud of what they had accomplished. “Compared to what [the Libertarians had] gotten before,” Charles said, “and where we were as a movement or as a political/ideological point of view, that was pretty remarkable, to get 1 percent of the vote.”[15]

After the bid, according to a book by Brian Doherty, an editor of Reason magazine, David and his brother Charles viewed politicians as "actors playing out a script" and they wanted to "supply the themes and words for the scripts" by influencing "the areas where policy ideas percolate from: academia and think tanks".[2]

Koch credits the campaign of Roger MacBride as his inspiration for getting involved in politics, telling a reporter from New York magazine:

"Here was a great guy, advocating all the things I believed in. He wanted less government and taxes, and was talking about repealing all these victimless crime laws that accumulated on the books. I have friends who smoke pot. I know many homosexuals. It's ridiculous to treat them as criminals—and here was someone running for president, saying just that."[12]

According to Koch, he gave his own Vice Presidential campaign $100,000 a month after being chosen as Ed Clark's running mate. "We'd like to abolish the Federal Elections Commission and all the limits on campaign spending anyway," Koch told New York magazine's Rinker Buck in 1980. When asked why he ran, Koch replied:

"Lord knows I didn't need a job, but I believe in what the Libertarians are saying. I suppose if they hadn't come along, I could have been a big Republican from Wichita. But hell—everybody from Kansas is a Republican."[12]

He broke with the Libertarian Party in 1984 when it supported eliminating all taxes[3] and Koch has since been a Republican.[3]

Current political views

David Koch supports gay marriage and stem-cell research.[3] He is against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and was against the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.[3] Koch is unsure if global warming is caused by humans, and thinks a warmer planet would be good because "[t]he Earth will be able to support enormously more people because a far greater land area will be available to produce food".[3]

He opposed the Iraq war, saying that the war has "cost a lot of money, and it's taken so many American lives". "I question whether that was the right thing to do. In hindsight that looks like it was not a good policy." he told an interviewer.[15]

David Koch dislikes President Obama's policies. "He's the most radical president we've ever had as a nation... and has done more damage to the free enterprise system and long-term prosperity than any president we've ever had."[15] Koch believes that Obama's father's economic socialism explains what Koch views as Obama's belief in "antibusiness, anti-free enterprise influences."[15] Koch believes Obama himself is a "hardcore socialist" who is "marvelous at pretending to be something other than that." [16]

Political advocacy

See also: Political activities of the Koch family

In 1984, Koch founded, served as Chairman of the board of directors of, and donated to the free-market Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE). Richard H. Fink served as its first president.[15] In 2004, CSE separated into the Americans for Prosperity Foundation and FreedomWorks. Koch continues as Chairman of the Board and gives money to the Americans for Prosperity Foundation and to a related advocacy organization, Americans for Prosperity. A Koch spokesperson issued a press release stating that the Kochs' have "no ties to and have never given money to FreedomWorks".[17]

Koch also sits on the board and donates to the libertarian Cato Institute and Reason Foundation.[2][3][18]

In the late summer and early fall of 2010, Koch's contributions to political campaigns, free-market think tanks and other advocacy organizations came under increased scrutiny. Koch supports Republican candidates and California Proposition 23 (2010). In July 2010, New York magazine profiled him, calling him the "tea party’s wallet".[3] Koch says that: "I’ve never been to a tea party event. No one representing the tea party has ever even approached me."[3] However, some organisations tracking money in politics say that Americans for Prosperity is in the Tea Party movement.[19]

In August 2010, Jane Mayer of The New Yorker wrote a controversial[15][20] article on the political spending of David and Charles Koch: "As their fortunes grew, Charles and David Koch became the primary underwriters of hard-line libertarian politics in America."[2][21]

Kimberly O. Dennis, of the Searle Freedom Trust, a libertarian foundation, suggests that the Kochs are acting against their economic interest in promoting "getting government out of the business of running the economy. If they were truly interested in protecting their profits, they wouldn’t be spending so much to shrink government; they’d be looking for a bigger slice of the pie for themselves. Their funding is devoted to promoting free-market capitalism, not crony capitalism."[22]

TIME magazine included both Charles and David Koch among the 100 most influential people of 2011. According to the magazine, the list includes "activists, reformers and researchers, heads of state and captains of industry." The article touts the brothers' commitment to free-market principles, the growth and development of their business, their passion for philanthropy, and their support for liberty-minded organizations and political candidates.[23]

Philanthropy

Since 2000, Koch has pledged and/or donated more than $600 million to the arts, education and medical research, more than he gave to political causes.[24] Koch maintains that only a relatively small portion of his giving goes toward political causes. Instead, most of his charity goes toward cancer research, followed by cultural and educational programs.[25]

Medical Research

In 1992, David Koch was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He underwent radiation, surgery, and hormone therapy, but the cancer returned every time. Koch believes his experience with cancer has encouraged him to fund medical research. He says, "once you get that disease and I've had it for 20 years almost, you become a crusader to try to cure the disease not only for yourself but for other people."[15]

Koch sits on the Board of Directors of the Prostate Cancer Foundation and has contributed $41 million to the Foundation, including $5 million to a collaborative project in the field of nanotechnology.[26] Koch is the eponym of the David H. Koch Chair of the Prostate Cancer Foundation, a position currently held by Dr. Jonathan Simons.

In 2007, he contributed $100 million to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to help fund the construction of a new 350,000-square-foot (33,000 m2) research and technology facility to serve as the home of the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research.[27] He also contributed $20 million to Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. The building he financed was named the David H. Koch Cancer Research Building.[28] $30 million to the Memorial Sloan–Kettering Cancer Center in New York,[29] $25 million to the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston to establish the David Koch Center for Applied Research in Genitourinary Cancers,[30] $15 million to New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell Medical Center.[31]

Arts

In July 2008, Koch pledged $100 million over 10 years to renovate the New York State Theater in the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (now called the David H. Koch Theater),[32] and has pledged $10 million to renovate the outdoor fountains at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.[33]

Koch has been a trustee of the American Ballet Theater for 25 years[34] and has contributed more than $6 million to the theater.[35]

Education

Koch contributed $7 million to the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) show Nova,[36] and is a contributor to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., including a $20 million gift to the American Museum of Natural History, creating the David H. Koch Dinosaur Wing and a contribution of $15 million to the National Museum of Natural History to create the new David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins, which opened on the museum's 100th anniversary of its location on the National Mall on March 17, 2010.[37]

Koch also financed the construction of Deerfield Academy's $68 million Koch Center for mathematics, science and technology,[38] and was named the first and only Lifetime Trustee.[38]

Koch gave $10 million to the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory[39] where he was honored with the Double Helix Medal for Corporate Leadership for supporting research that, "improves the health of people everywhere."[40]

Real estate development

In May 2006 he sold what had been Jackie Kennedy's New York City apartment for more than $33 million.[41] He bought the apartment for $9.5 million in 1995.[42] He teamed up with members of New York City high society—including Victoria Newhouse, wife of media mogul S.I. Newhouse Jr., among others—to try to block Donald Trump's Trump World Tower.[43]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Koch, David Hamilton (1940)". New Netherland Project. Retrieved August 31, 2010.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Mayer, Jane (August 30, 2010). "Covert Operations: The billionaire brothers who are waging a war against Obama". The New Yorker.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Goldman, Andrew (July 25, 2010). "The Billionaire's Party: David Koch is New York's second-richest man, a celebrated patron of the arts, and the tea party's wallet". New York magazine. Retrieved August 26, 2010. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  4. ^ Elizabeth Bumiller (January 11, 1998). "Woman Ascending A Marble Staircase". The New York Times. Retrieved August 31, 2010.
  5. ^ NYT staff (May 26, 1996). "Weddings: Julia M. Flesher, David H. Koch". Style. The New York Times. Retrieved September 2, 2010.
  6. ^ a b "David Koch - Forbes". Forbes. March 9, 2011.
  7. ^ Cargill is the largest. David Koch - Libertarian, Advocates for Self-Government
  8. ^ Zernike, Kate (October 19, 2010). "Secretive Republican Donors Are Planning Ahead". New York Times.
  9. ^ Suzan Mazur, "The Altenberg 16: An Exposé of the Evolution Industry", North Atlantic Books, 2010, 343 pages
  10. ^ Weiss, Gary, "The Price of Immortality", Condé Nast Portfolio, November 2008.
  11. ^ Continetti, Matthew. "The Paranoid Style in Liberal Politics". The Weekly Standard. Retrieved 20 April 2011.
  12. ^ a b c Rinker Buck, "How Those Libertarians Pay the Bills", New York magazine, 3 November 1980
  13. ^ U.S. Presidential Election Atlas,
  14. ^ James T. Bennett, Not Invited to the Party: How the Demopublicans Have Rigged the System and Left Independents Out in the Cold, Springer, 2009, p. 167, ISBN 1-4419-0365-8.
  15. ^ a b c d e f g Continetti, Matthew (April 4, 2011). "The Paranoid Style in Liberal Politics". The Weekly Standard.
  16. ^ Owen, Sarah (5 May 2011). "David Koch Gives President Obama Zero Credit for Bin Laden's Death". New York.
  17. ^ Weigel, David (April 15, 2010). "Dick Armey: Please, Koch, keep distancing yourself from me". Washington Post.
  18. ^ Sherman, Jake (August 20, 2009). "Conservatives Take a Page From Left's Online Playbook". The Wall Street Journal.
  19. ^ Goldenberg, Suzanne (October 13, 2010). "Tea Party movement: Billionaire Koch brothers who helped it grow". The Guardian. London. Retrieved March 10, 2011. But organisations tracking money in politics say the Kochs' biggest impact in the midterm elections will be from funding and providing logistical support to such groups as Americans for Prosperity (AFP), one of the biggest Tea Party groups.
  20. ^ Lewis, Matt. "Koch Brothers Donate to Charity as well as 'Right Wing Causes'". Politics Daily. Retrieved 16 April 2011.
  21. ^ Lewis, Matt (2010-09-02). "Koch Brothers Donate to Charity as well as 'Right Wing Causes'". Politics Daily. Retrieved 2011-02-01.
  22. ^ Dennis, Kimberly O. (November 15, 2010). "Democrats Can't Blame the Koch Brothers (However Much They Might Want To)". National Review Online. Retrieved 31 January 2011.
  23. ^ Ferguson, Andrew (April 21, 2011). "The 2011 TIME 100". TIME. Retrieved 22 April 2011.
  24. ^ Lewis, Matthew (September 2, 2010). "Koch Brothers Give More to Charity than to Right Wing Causes". Politics Daily.
  25. ^ Cooper, Michael (March 4, 2011). "Cancer Research Before Activism, Billionaire Conservative Donor Says". The New York Times.
  26. ^ [1]
  27. ^ Karagianis, Liz (2008). “Empathy for Others”. Spectrvm
  28. ^ [2].
  29. ^ Beatty, Sally (October 9, 2007). "Institutional Gift, With a Catch". The Wall Street Journal.
  30. ^ [3]
  31. ^ [4] and $25 million to The Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City [5]
  32. ^ Pogrebin, Robin (July 10, 2008). "David H. Koch to Give 100 Million to Theater". The New York Times.
  33. ^ Souccar, Miriam Kreinin (June 27, 2010). "It's a Philanthropy Thing". Crains New York.
  34. ^ Donnelly, Shannon (June 2, 2010). "American Ballet Theatre Celebrates 70th Season, David Koch's Birthday". Palm Beach Daily News.
  35. ^ Cole, Patrick (May 17, 2010). "David Koch Toasted by Caroline Kennedy, Robert DeNiro". Bloomberg.
  36. ^ [6]
  37. ^ "Smithsonian to Open Hall Dedicated to Story of Human Evolution". The Washington Post. March 30, 2010.
  38. ^ a b Cobbs, Lucy (February 25, 2010). "David Koch Named Lifetime Trustee". Deerfield Scroll.
  39. ^ "Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory surpasses capital campaign goal". Wednesday, 15 July 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  40. ^ "$3.1 Million Raised at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory's 2007 Double Helix Medals Dinner". Wednesday, 21 November 2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  41. ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=APSWggj6oT0C&lpg=PA540&dq=David%20Koch&pg=PA540#v=onepage&q=David%20Koch&f=false
  42. ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=MyCITQXTJBEC&lpg=PA287&dq=David%20Koch&pg=PA287#v=onepage&q=David%20Koch&f=false
  43. ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=AXepB1dBCzcC&lpg=PA330&dq=David%20Koch&pg=PA330#v=onepage&q=David%20Koch&f=false

External links

Party political offices
Preceded by Libertarian Party Vice-Presidential candidate
1980 (lost) 		Succeeded by

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source: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=David_H._Koch&diff=445737990&oldid=445735070

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