5. DAVID KOCH Net Worth: $42.9 BILLION
The 75-year-old businessman, philanthropist, political activist and chemical engineer, is the co-owner and the executive vice president of Koch Industries, the second-largest privately held company in the US.
He joined Koch Industries in 1970 and 9 years later he is Koch’s president. Cool, isn’t it?
Born in Wichita, Kansas to Mary and Fred Chase Koch, as one of their four children. He graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), earning both a Bachelor’s (1962) and a Master’s degree (1963) in chemical engineering.
Just like Christy Walton, David is also a billionaire who likes to donate to charities.
He has contributed to several charities including Lincoln Center, Sloan Kettering, a fertility clinic at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and the American Museum of Natural History’s David H. Koch Dinosaur Wing.
An American news publication described him as one of the most generous but low-key philanthropists in America.
But Koch is not only a billionaire; he is also a survivor of the USAir Flight 1493 crash in 1991. In 2013 he was the wealthiest resident of New York City.
