30 Surprising Facts You Probably Didn't Know About David Koch

David Koch, the Director Emeritus of the Koch Industries, an American multinational corporation, is often referred to as one of the most generous givers in the world, for his contributions toward the various philanthropic causes. Here are some really interesting things to know about the American businessman:

1.  He is described by Condé Nast Portfolio as "one of the most generous but low-key philanthropists in America," for his contributions to several charities including the Lincoln Center and the Dinosaur Wing at the American Museum of Natural History.
2.  In the year 2008, the New York State Theater at Lincoln Center, which is the home of the New York City Ballet, was renamed as the David H. Koch Theater, after his donation of $100 million for the renovation of the theater.
3.  He is the co-founder of the Citizens for a Sound Economy, which was a conservative political group operating in the United States, established in the year 1984. The group split into two new organizations - FreedomWorks and Americans for Prosperity, in the year 2004.
4.  He was the recipient of Americans for Prosperity Foundation’s George Washington Award for Principled Leadership in the year 2007.
5.  He is famous for his generous contributions in the field of medical research regarding cancer. He sits on the Board of Directors of the Prostate Cancer Foundation, and is said to have contributed $41 million to the foundation.
6.  He was honored with the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center's Excellence in Corporate Leadership Award in the year 2005.
7.  He reportedly donated $100 million to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in an effort to fund the construction of a new research and technology facility that will serve as the home of the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, in 2007.
8.  Koch established the David H. Koch Charitable Foundation which has till date funded cancer research and a number of arts and science organizations including the New York City Ballet, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, American Ballet Theatre, the American Museum of Natural History and the Lincoln Centre for the Performing Arts.
9.  He was honored with the most prestigious Corporate Citizenship Award from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in the year 2004.
10.  He has been listed among the world's top 50 philanthropists by the Chronicle of Philanthropy. He is also ranked among the Top 50 givers list of several magazines, for over a decade.
11.  He is member of the boards of around 20 non-profit corporations such as the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, Aspen Institute, National Cancer Advisory Board of the National Cancer Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Rockefeller University among others.
12.  David Hamilton Koch was born on May 3, 1940 to Fred Chase Koch and Mary Clementine in Wichita Kansas. He has three siblings - two elder brothers Frederick R. Koch, Charles Koch, and a nineteen-minute younger twin Bill Koch.
13.  His father was a chemical engineer. His paternal grandfather, Harry Koch was the founder of the Quanah Tribune-Chief newspaper. His grandfather was also a founding shareholder of Quanah, Acme and Pacific Railway.
14.  The famous Episcopalian bishop - William Ingraham Kip, the politician - William Burnet Kinney and the popular American writer - Elizabeth Clementine Stedman, were his maternal great-great-grandparents.
15.  He went to Deerfield Academy prep school in Massachusetts, before joining the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he earned a Bachelor's degree as well as a Master's degree in Chemical Engineering. During his time at MIT, he was a member of the Beta Theta Pi Fraternity.
16.  He is reportedly a college basketball star, who held the MIT's record for most points scored in a single game - a record 41 points for 46 years from 1962 till 2009. He also holds the school record for averaging 21 points per game at MIT over three years.
17.  He first started his career with the Koch Industries as a technical-services manager under his second elder brother Charles. He went on to become the founder of the company's New York Office.
18.  He became the president of his own division, Koch Engineering, which was later renamed as the Chemical Technology Group, in the year 1979.
19.  He and his brother Charles, reportedly own 42 percent of Koch Industries each. His first brother Frederick R. Koch and younger twin Bill Koch sued the Koch Industries for the first time in 1985, which was followed by a long series of lawsuits about ownership that lasted until 2001.
20.  In the year 1991, he survived a runway plane collision, as he reportedly felt his way down the aisle and pried open a door to escape.
21.  He served as the Executive Vice President of Koch Industries, before retiring from the company on June 5, 2018, due to declining health issues.
22.  He was Libertarian Party's vice-presidential candidate in the presidential election on a ticket with the presidential candidate Ed Clark in the year 1980. The duo reportedly won 1 percent - 921,128 votes of the total nationwide votes.
23.  However, in the year 1984, he broke with the Libertarian Party, after being a staunch believer in the Libertarian ideals, when the party supported eliminating all taxes. Since then, he had been a Republican.
24.  He is a strong supporter of women's right to choose, gay rights, same-sex marriage and stem-cell research, and claims to consider himself as a social liberal.
25.  He is the Chairman of the Board of Americans for Prosperity Foundation, to which he gave the initial funding, and was also the top funder having given $850,000. The advocacy group is considered to be one of the most influential American conservative organizations.
26.  He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in the year 1992 and underwent surgery, radiation and hormone therapy. The cancer is said to have recurred numerous times. His personal struggle to survive cancer is what that motivated him to fund researchers on cancer treatments.
27.  He donated $20 million to Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore for cancer research, in an effort to finance the new building - David H. Koch Cancer Research Building, in the year 2006.
28.  He gave $25 million to the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston to establish the David Koch Center for Applied Research in Genitourinary Cancers in the year 2008.
29.  He contributed $100 million to NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital, the largest philanthropic donation in its history, beginning with a $2 billion campaign in the year 2013, which is to conclude in 2019, for a new ambulatory care center, along with the renovation of the infrastructure of the hospital's five sites.
30.  Koch financed the construction of the $68 million Koch Center for mathematics, science and technology at the Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts, and was named the first and only Lifetime Trustee of Deerfield Academy.
31.  David Koch Net Worth: $51.5 Billion