Billionaire industrialist David H. Koch, who with his older brother Charles poured a fortune into right-wing causes, transforming the American political landscape and shaping U.S. policies on such issues as climate change and government regulation, died Friday at 79.
The cause of death was not disclosed, but Koch Industries said Koch, who lived in New York City, had contended for years with various illnesses, including prostate cancer.
Koch had an estimated total worth of more than $42 billion thanks to the family business, Koch Industries, an industrial conglomerate with its hand in everything from oil to fertilizer to paper products. The Koch brothers built the family chemical business into the second-largest private company in the United States. Forbes ranked David Koch as the 11th richest person in the world, with a $48 billion fortune.
But it's what the Koch brothers did with their money that made them famous.
"David Koch and his brother, Charles Koch, fundamentally transformed the way that politics is conducted in this country," New York Times investigative reporter Kenneth Vogel said.
Vogel has traced the Kochs' political giving. Their wealth helped fuel the rise of the Tea Party movement, and has continued to advance their conservative agenda, even with much of their political spending obscured from public view.
"They raised huge sums of money from like-minded donors, and then channeled that money into a network of groups — Super PACs, nonprofit groups, even university chairs — that then pushed policies and politicians that were sort of consistent with the Koch brothers' worldview," Vogel said.
Ironically, that worldview isn't totally in line with the Republican Party; Koch, who was the vice presidential candidate on the Libertarian ticket in 1980, is against military interventions and is pro-free trade, putting him at odds with President Donald Trump.
His views are even further out of step with most New Yorkers, and yet his name is all over Manhattan thanks to his philanthropy. The home of the New York City Ballet at Lincoln Center is the David H. Koch Theater, thanks to his $100 million gift. He also gave $100 million to create the David H. Koch Center at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. The plaza in front of the Metropolitan Museum is named after him; so is a wing at the Museum of Natural History; and he funded the David Koch cancer care center at Memorial Sloan Kettering. He and his wife broke ground there.
There has been backlash, including protests outside the Met. But as much as he's been reviled by the left, Koch's name will live on in Manhattan primarily to mark his generous giving to the arts and medical research.
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Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.