Frederick Koch, Low- Profile Koch Brother, Dies At 86

[appalachiablue]

Source: Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Frederick Koch, who kept a low profile as an arts benefactor rather than joining the family oil business that became Koch Industries, has died, according to the New York Times. He was 86. His friend and longtime assistant John Olsen told the Times Koch died at his Manhattan home on Wednesday of heart failure.

Koch was the oldest of four sons of Fred Koch of Wichita, Kansas. His high profile billionaire younger brothers, Charles and David, ran Koch Industries and bankrolled libertarian causes, but Frederick rarely saw them and preferred to live in relative anonymity, according to the Times.

Koch used his share of the family wealth to support a career as a benefactor of the arts and historic preservation. He amassed extensive collections of rare books, musical manuscripts and fine and decorative arts, including Marie Antoinette’s canopied bed. His collection of manor houses included a 150-room castle in Austria once owned by Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which Koch used for decades as a summer retreat.

In 1986, Koch stood beside Queen Elizabeth II at the opening of the new $2.8 million Swan Theater he had built for the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon in England. The queen thanked the “generous benefactor” but didn’t name him, respecting his wish for privacy. Olsen said Koch’s entire estate will be used to establish a foundation to promote the study of literature, history and the arts. -END.


Read more: https://apnews.com/305ad2ca7aa06efdc821ebedb893e5cf

---

-* Frederick Koch, Subject of Brothers' Antigay Blackmail Plot, Has Died, Advocate, Feb. 13, 2020,

https://www.advocate.com/news/2020/2/13/frederick-koch-subject-brothers-antigay-blackmail-plot-has-died




- Fred Koch and friend Margo Langenberg (Getty Images).

[cstanleytech]

1. I have nothing to say in the negative of the man........his siblings on the other hand are a

different story.

[appalachiablue]

5. Right, good that he spent time & funds on the arts. The linked

article posted above describes a confrontation of Fred by his brothers,

Snip: "At some point, when Frederick was in his 20s, all four of the sons by then had shares in the family company. And what the three other brothers did was they created a kind of kangaroo court ... so that [Frederick] walked into a room, found his three other brothers sitting there in chairs facing him, and they confronted him and conducted an inquisition to see if he was gay. And they then said that if he was, they were going to tell their father unless he handed over his share in the company. …"

[Blues Heron]

10. whoa- psycho brothers.

how many of the bad ones are left - two?

[Warpy]

21. He was the only brother to ralize Ayn Rand was full of crap

probably because of the destruction of a fine art statue by the tempestuous and addlepated heroine of "The Fountainhead," but who knows? He spent his time collecting rare objects and quite likely saving some of them from landfills or being knocked down and replaced by tower blocks or bungalows.

It will be interesting to see what happens to it now that he's no longer there.

[dweller]

2. Ta

✌🏼

[herding cats]

3. He wasn't a bad one.

My respects to his loved ones. It wasn't his fault he was born into that family.

[lunasun]

4. rarely saw His two libertarian brothers .. yes I get that and sorry your surname got dragged down

by them

[BigmanPigman]

6. Probably the only Koch who could die with his self respect in tact.

[Moostache]

7. Cross over easy kind soul, your penance was served on this Earth...

I did not need any additional reasons to dislike the other brothers, but I was never aware of this element of their cruelty and deformed souls. Solid evidence that evil is NOT genetic, but that some people are simply born fucked up - and it is NOT the ones that end up shunned or isolated or beaten on.

[NotHardly]

8. It was not that he was low-profile, he was 'runover' by his brothers early in court & kicked out

His brothers 'kicked him out of the family and most of the fortune', no, he did not do anything wrong, he simply was not like them.
Long ago... decades... you'd have to do a deep dive, but it's there. Kansas City Star and the Wichita Eagle probably the best resources.

[Blues Heron]

9. Marie Antoinettes bed?

Weird.

[MrModerate]

11. Just in case you're still telling yourself...

…that the rich aren't that different from the rest of this, I'd point out that this guy owned a collection of manor houses.

[sinkingfeeling]

12. Why must it be the good one who dies?

[Hassin Bin Sober]

23. It's 1 to 1 now.

[Zorro]

13. The Koch fortune was based on building oil refining capabilities for Stalin and Hitler

[CanonRay]

14. The only descent one of the three.

[eppur_se_muova]

15. There are right ways to be rich, and there are wrong ways. He seems to have done it right.

His brothers, on the other hand ... are exhibits A and B for "Eat the Rich".

[rickyhall]

17. There's a right way?

[eppur_se_muova]

18. Give back to civilization.

"Koch used his share of the family wealth to support a career as a benefactor of the arts and historic preservation."

"Olsen said Koch’s entire estate will be used to establish a foundation to promote the study of literature, history and the arts."

Maybe he could have done more by other people's standards, but it counts for a lot that he didn't follow his brothers' approach of valuing wealth over humanity.

[hamsterjill]

16. May he rest in peace.

Sounds like he wasn't proud of his brothers, and I'm sure that made family dynamics difficult. One doesn't get to pick the family they are born into.

My sympathies to his friends and loved ones.

[AZ8theist]

19. Thoughts and prayers....

Hopefully, your anti-American, scumbag, Nazi fucking asshole brothers aren't far behind....

[kimbutgar]

20. A dead Koch is the best koch

[MuseRider]

22. He may have been the "good" one

and I am thankful he supported the arts as one who in involved making the arts but how in the hell is it OK for rich people to own treasures that none of us will ever be able to see? I find it repulsive that they hoard great works of art that actually should belong to the commons.

Other than that I am not going to say much else.