Strap on the Parachute

David H. Koch partnered with his brother, Charles G. Koch, in business and political ventures that grew into the nation¿s second-largest private company and a powerful libertarian movement that helped reshape American politics. David Koch (pronounced coke) became one of the world¿s richest people, with assets of $42.2 billion in 2019 and a 42 percent stake in the family enterprise, Koch Industries. He also became a nationally known philanthropist with donations to medical, educational, and cultural institutions. The largest donations was $150 million to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to build the David H. Koch Center for Cancer Care in a 23-story structure in Manhattan. At Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the ballet venue became the David H. Koch Theater in 2008 after he pledged $100 million. Another $100 million went to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital for an ambulatory center, and $20 million to the American Museum of Natural History for a dinosaur wing. Both were named for him.

A gregarious, socially prominent New Yorker, Mr. Koch loved the ballet, had been a dinosaur buff as a child and battled prostate cancer in his 50s and 60s. He was a familiar figure at society galas, a 6-foot-5 former college basketball star who long held the single-game scoring record 41 points for the M.I.T. team, the Engineers. He also survived a 1991 plane crash that killed 34 people at Los Angeles International Airport. David H. Koch passed away on 08/23/2019 at the age of 79.

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