Bill Koch (businessman)

Koch is the son of Mary Clementine (née Robinson) and Fred C. Koch, founder of Koch Industries, a business empire based on oil refining. His paternal grandfather, Harry Koch, was a Dutch immigrant, who founded the Quanah Tribune-Chief newspaper and was a founding shareholder of Quanah, Acme and Pacific Railway. Among his maternal great-great-grandparents were William Ingraham Kip, an Episcopal bishop; William Burnet Kinney, a politician; and Elizabeth Clementine Stedman, a writer.

Koch attended Culver Military Academy in Culver, Indiana.[2] He graduated with bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in chemical engineering, all from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[3] David Koch (1940−2019) was his twin brother.[4] His other brothers are Frederick R. Koch (1933−2020) and Charles Koch (born 1935).

Koch worked in his family's company. He and his eldest brother Frederick R. Koch had inherited Koch Industries stock. In 1983 the stock netted them $800 million in a sale to their brothers, Charles and David.[5]

Legal disputes against Charles and David lasted some two decades. Bill and his eldest brother, Frederick, sided with J. Howard Marshall III, J. Howard Marshall II's eldest son, against Charles and David at one point, in order to take over the company. In 2001, Koch reached a settlement where he had charged the company was taking oil from federal and Indian land. This settlement ended all litigation between the brothers.[6] CBS News reported that Koch Industries settled for $25 million, and Bill received one-third of the settlement for bringing the suit.[7]

After leaving Koch Industries, he became the founder and president of the Oxbow Group, an energy development holding company based in West Palm Beach, Florida.[8] In 2011, Oxbow donated $750,000 to Restore Our Future, Inc., the "SuperPAC" supporting Mitt Romney's presidential campaign.[9] Koch was also an investor in Kendall Square Research, a short-lived supercomputer company.

Koch co-chairs the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, a group formed to fight the Cape Wind project to build an offshore wind farm of 130 turbines. In 2005, Koch contributed $500,000 in donations to the alliance directly and more than $1 million toward lobbyist efforts to defeat the project.[10][11]

Koch won the America's Cup in 1992 with the yacht America 3, defeating the Italian challenger Il Moro di Venezia. America 3's overall record, including trials, was 28–10. Koch reportedly spent around $65 million on his effort and though an amateur, sailed on the crew himself, assisted by veteran sailors like Buddy Melges.[12]

In 1995, Koch financed another team to compete for the cup. This time the crew consisted entirely of women except for tactician David Dellenbaugh, on a yacht named Mighty Mary. However, the boat lost to Dennis Conner's Stars & Stripes in the trials.[13]

Koch is a supporter of the Sea Scout program of the Boy Scouts of America, biannually hosting the William I. Koch International Sea Scout Cup.

Koch was inducted into the America's Cup Hall of Fame in 1993.[14] Koch was inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame in 2018.[15]

Koch is a collector of art and wine. He has filed several high-profile suits against sellers of counterfeit wines, most notably a suit against Hardy Rodenstock for the sale of wine purported to have been owned by Thomas Jefferson.[16] Koch also sued Rudy Kurniawan and the auction house Acker, Merrall & Condit, through whom Koch purchased Kurniawan's wine. Koch filed the suit against Kurniawan in 2009,[17] and was reported to have reached a settlement for $3 million in July 2014.[18][19]

Koch's collection of maritime memorabilia includes model ships, antique nautical instruments, and paintings of ships and seascapes.[8] A 2005 show at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston featured his collections, including the America 3 and the yacht it defeated, Il Moro di Venezia. The show was also criticized, however, for glamorizing Koch at the expense of the museum's educational function. Koch had helped finance the show, including paying the cost to move the boats from Rhode Island.[20] He previously owned the former French Class America F1 - IACC F1 renamed later USA-2.

The boats were in Rhode Island because Koch had placed them with a small maritime museum there. Despite the considerable expense of building them, he said "they have absolutely no value" once their racing life is over.[21] Koch, a native of Wichita, Kansas, donated the yacht he used in qualifying for the America's Cup races, Jayhawk, to the Wichita Boathouse. He also supplied money for the city to use in repairing the yacht.[22]

In June 2011, he purchased a 130-year-old photo of the legendary outlaw Billy the Kid for the amount of $2.3 million at a Denver auction.[23][24]

At his Colorado ranch, Koch has a collection of military vehicles, including a M42 Duster antiaircraft gun.[25]

Koch donated $1.5 million to Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound.[26] Its goal is to prevent the construction of Cape Wind, a wind power project located in Nantucket Sound, near Koch's Cape Cod house.

Koch gave $2 million to Restore Our Future, a PAC created to support 2012 Republican Party Presidential candidate Mitt Romney.[27]

In 1994, Koch married Joan Granlund, with whom he had a son, Wyatt. The marriage ended in divorce.[28]

In 1995, he filed a lawsuit against his former lover, Catherine de Castelbajac, to evict her from his $2.5 million condominium at the Four Seasons Hotel in Boston. He said he had allowed her to move in the previous year so she could attend Simmons College, as he seldom used the apartment. When he tried to end the relationship, de Castelbajac refused to move out and claimed he had broken his promises to her. A jury ruled in Koch's favor after a trial that was noted for its disclosure of torrid letters and faxes between the two.[29]

In 2005, Koch married Bridget Rooney (b. 1962) at a ceremony in Colorado. The couple have had one daughter, Kaitlin. Bridget Rooney Koch is the granddaughter of the original owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers football franchise, Art Rooney (1901–1988).[30] The Kochs are part-time residents of Palm Beach, Florida.[30]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bill Koch.

• Bill Koch interview
• Koch's biography
• Oxbow Group website
• William I. Koch International Sea Scout Cup
• Daniel Schulman (20 May 2014). Sons of Wichita. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 978-1455518739.