David Koch Biography And Net Worth:
| Net Worth $58 Billion |
| Full Name David Hamilton Koch |
| Birth Date May 3, 1940 |
| Died Aug 23, 2019 |
| Birthplace Wichita, Kansas |
| Profession Businessman, Political activist, Chemical Engineer |
| Spouse Julia Margaret Flesher |
David Hamilton Koch aka David Koch was an American businessman, political activist, philanthropist, and chemical engineer. In 1979, he was elected president of the subsidiary Koch Engineering, and in 1983, he joined his older brother Charles as a co-owner of Koch Industries.
Koch was an executive vice president of Koch Industries till 2018. With a net worth of $58 billion as of June 2019, Koch was ranked 11th in terms of wealth in the world (tied with his brother Charles).
David Koch Early life
Fred Chase and Mary Koch welcomed David into the world on May 3, 1940. In the same year that David was born, his father, a chemical engineer and businessman launched the Koch Industries. William, Charles, and Frederick are his three brothers.
David graduated in 1959 from the Massachusetts high school Deerfield Academy. He next enrolled at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he graduated in 1962 with a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering and he earned his Master’s degree the next year. He was an accomplished basketball player while attending college and was also an avid sportsman.
David Koch Business Career
After completing his education, he started a career in engineering and spent the following few years working as a research and process design engineer at various consulting companies. Among the businesses he worked for in the 1960s were Arthur D. Little, Halco , the Amicon,, and the Scientific Design Company.
In 1970, David Koch started working for Koch Industries, the family firm as Technical-services manager. In the end, David went on to build the business’ New York office and, by 1979, was in charge of Koch Engineering, which was subsequently renamed Chemical Technology Group.
David Koch Political Career
He grew interested in politics and joined Ed Clark on the party ticket as the vice-presidential candidate for the Libertarian Party in the 1980 U.S. presidential election.
The pair won just under a million votes in what was the most successful Libertarian presidential campaign in the history of the United States up to that point. They ran on a platform of abolishing Social Security, the Federal Reserve Board, welfare, minimum wage laws, corporate taxes, and all price supports and subsidies for agriculture and business.
Formerly a fervent supporter of libertarian principles, he parted ways with the party in 1984 when it backed the repeal of all taxes.
David Koch founded Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE), a conservative political organization active in the United States, with his brother Charles in 1984.
David Koch had surgery, radiation treatment, and hormone therapy after receiving a prostate cancer diagnosis in 1992. But cancer often returned. His own battle with cancer inspired him to support medical research.
David Koch Wife and Children
In 1996, Koch married Julia M. Flesher, and they had three children together. An 18-room duplex co-op apartment at 740 Park Avenue cost Julia and David $17 million in 2004, and they lived there for years.
David Koch Achievements
He was honored with the prestigious Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Corporate Citizenship Award in 2004. He received the Excellence in Corporate Leadership Award from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in 2005. Additionally, he received the George Washington Award for Principled Leadership from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation (2007).
David Koch Net Worth
With a net worth of $58 billion at the time of his death, David Koch was tied for eighth place with his brother among the wealthiest people. David Koch owned 42% of Koch Industries, the second-largest privately held business in the United States with reported annual revenue of up to $100 billion, at the time of his death. He owns stock in a number of businesses, including Molex, Georgia-Pacific, Invista, Flint Hills Resources, Koch Fertilizer, and more. In addition, he had cash assets worth at least $2 billion in the private equity fund run by his family, Koch Equity Development.
David Koch Death
At the age of 79, Koch passed away on August 23, 2019 due to prostate cancer, at his Southampton, New York, residence. Upon Koch’s passing, his wife, Julia Koch, and their three children received a 42% ownership stake in Koch Industries.
David Koch Philanthropy
David Koch donated hundreds of millions of dollars to charitable organizations throughout his life, including the David H. Koch Dinosaur Wing at the American Museum of Natural Histor, Lincoln Center, Sloan Kettering, and a fertility center at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. Following a contribution of $100 million towards the theater’s refurbishment, the New York State Theater at Lincoln Center—home of the New York City Ballet—was renamed the David H. Koch Theater in 2008.
