In the United States, one of the richest people in the world died, who forever changed American politics – co-owner of the industrial conglomerate Koch Industries and sponsor of the Republican Party, David Koch. He was 79 years old, his brother Charles Koch announced his death, writes Bloomberg.
David Koch died from numerous diseases, the most serious of which was prostate cancer, which he was diagnosed with almost 30 years ago – then doctors gave him no more than two years of life. Just last year, Koch resigned from Koch Industries for health reasons, and also ceased political activities with the Americans for Prosperity Foundation.
Place of Birth and Education
He was born November 1, 1935, in Wichita, Sedgwick, Kansas, USA. One of the four sons of Clementine Mary (née Robinson) and Fred Chase Koch. Koch’s grandfather, Harry Koch, was a Dutch immigrant who settled in West Texas, founded the Quanah Tribune-Chief newspaper and was the largest shareholder in Quanah, Acme, and Pacific Railway, a freight railroad.
Charles studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He received a Bachelor of Science in General Engineering in 1957, a Master of Science in Nuclear Engineering in 1957, and a second in Chemical Engineering in 1960.
Associations
Through this support, David Koch has sponsored the Republican Party and libertarian endeavors for decades. The Foundation has become the foremost think tank of ultraconservatives and one of the central centers of influence in the United States, sometimes ahead of the Republican Party itself in this respect.
- The Koch brothers have changed the entire political landscape, notes Bloomberg. This influence will last for a long time, predicts Daniel Schulman, who published a book on their empire in 2014. The Koch family ushered in an era of mega-donors who started pouring extensive money into politics and ultimately gained unprecedented influence, he said;
- – It is with them that the strengthening of the right wing of the Republicans and the “tea-drinking movement” are associated. With their help, a whole generation of politicians emerged, its prominent representatives – Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo;
- In the last elections, the Kochs did not support Donald Trump, although they praised him for cutting taxes. In 2018 they finally joined the camp of the president’s opponents. Charles Koch criticized Trump for his approach to world trade and his leadership style. Trump tweeted in response that Kohi had long been a “laughing stock” in the ranks of the real Republicans;
- David Koch did a lot of charity work in the field of art, donated large sums to education and oncological research;
- In the Bloomberg ranking, David Koch shared 6-7 place with his brother Charles, with a fortune of $ 58.7 billion each. Forbes assigned the brothers 11th place but also estimated their combined wealth at nearly $ 100 billion.
Business
The Kohi family is considered the second largest family in the United States (the first is the Walmart owners, the Walton family). The foundation of prosperity was laid by the father of both businessmen, Fred Koch, the inventor of one of the thermal cracking processes of oil, which built refineries around the world, including the USSR. He left his empire to four sons and David was the third of them. The oldest of them – Fred, along with David’s twin brother in the 80s began to sue David and Charles over the distribution of shares in Koch Industries, but the latter won.
- Koch Industries is the second privately held company in the United States after Cargill with annual revenues of about $ 110 billion and 120,000 employees;
- Starting with oil and remaining, for example, the owner of the Athabasca oil sands, it has diversified greatly in various fields – from basic and organic chemistry to finance. The brothers have 42% each in Koch Industries;
- Its privately-held status allowed Koch Industries to make detailed long-term investments like $ 17 billion in new industrial technologies from 3D printing to robotics. There is a well-known phrase by Charles Koch that the company will become public “only through my corpse.”
Political sponsor
The Koch brothers are known as major contributors to conservative ideology in the Republican Party. So, in 2012 alone, they spent about $ 400 million to oppose the re-election of Barack Obama to the presidency of the United States.
According to Forbes for 2010, Koch Industries is the second-largest privately-owned company in the United States in terms of revenue. Charles Koch – as of March 2017 – is the eighth richest person in the world according to Forbes, with a fortune of $ 48.3 billion. Koch is also active in charity work and has written a book about his business philosophy.
