Rise of the Koch brothers: How the billionaire industrialists were shaped by their father's hatred of the Soviet Union and built a powerful political network that changed America as David Koch dies at age 79
Daily Mail
August 23, 2019
Billionaire David Koch died Friday at aged 79.
Born in Wichita, Kansas on May 3, 1940, he was minutes older than his fraternal twin, William. He was the third son for his father, Fred Koch, and his mother, Mary. The eldest son, Frederick was born August 26, 1933, and then Charles on November 1, 1935.
Fred Koch was a chemical engineer who built an oil refinery business that eventually became Koch Industries. In the 1930s, he built oil refineries in the Soviet Union under Stalin and would become an anti-communist, and one of the founders of the John Birch Society.
Fred Koch handed over the reins of the company to Charles in 1966, and he died the next year at aged 67.
David Koch studied at chemical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology - like his father - and joined Charles at Koch Industries in 1970. Together they built an industrial empire.
By the 1970s, the brothers were part of the founding of the libertarian Cato Institute, and by 1980, David ran for vice-president on Ed Clark's Libertarian Party ticket. Their platform included 'ending Social Security, welfare, minimum wage and labor laws' and the 'Clark-Koch ticket won just 1.1 percent,' according to HuffPost.
He married Julia Margaret Flesher in 1996 at aged 56, and together they have donated millions to philanthropic endeavors.
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