David Koch - the billionaire industrialist who backed conservative politics - has died at age 79.
A friend of the family said Koch died Thursday night and had been able to visit Charles last week.
Koch's death was officially announced in a statement Friday morning from his older brother, Charles Koch.
Billionaire conservative donor Charles Koch (kohk) is remembering his brother David Koch for "his giant personality and passion for life" and says he will be "greatly missed, but never forgotten".
Last year David stepped down from running the business due to his declining health.
But he and Charles Koch (83) became better known for pushing their views than their business acumen, pumping millions into conservative causes and candidates.
The brothers in 2004 founded the anti-tax, small-government group Americans for Prosperity, which remains one of the most powerful conservative organizations in USA politics, and they were an important influence on the tea party movement.
David Koch ran as the Libertarian Party's vice-presidential candidate in 1980, but later broke with it and swung to the Republicans.
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The brothers' leadership grew Koch Industries into the massive company it is today.
David Koch also served as chief executive of Koch Chemical Technology Group LLC, a Koch subsidiary.
David stepped down as executive vice president of Koch Industries past year due to health issues. Koch Industry generates annual revenue of $110 billion. "We must build a positive reputation based on reality, or others will create one for us based on speculation or animus and we won't like what they create", Charles Koch wrote in 2007's The Science of Success.
Philanthropist David H. Koch attends the U.S. Olympic And Paralympic Foundation Event Hosted By Ellen and Daniel Crown in New York City on May 17, 2017.
The Kochs' father, Fred Koch, guessed early, before two of his boys were out of diapers and before two were even born, that wealth might split his family apart.
David Koch was diagnosed with prostate cancer more than 20 years ago. He was known as the more outgoing of the two brothers, and could often be seen at NY social functions, unlike Charles, who preferred to remain in Witchita, Kan., where Koch Industries is based.
The brothers were credited with helping underwrite the limited-government Tea Party movement that helped Republicans take control of Congress in 2010. But a combination of doctors and state-of-the-art medications "and his own stubbornness" kept the cancer at bay.
David is survived by his wife, Julia Flesher, three children, and his three brothers.
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