A Crain's reporter asked billionaire David Koch in 2014, “Why have your name on so many buildings?” He replied: “One reason is that the left-wing Democrats highly enjoy calling me an evil Koch brother, and the contributions I make in these many areas are tremendously worthy. It sends a message to the political groups in this country that don't like the conservative Republican businessman.”
Koch, who died last month, was indeed massively generous toward New York City's cultural and medical icons, as noted by many entries in The Giving Review's collection of obituaries and articles compiled after his death. The New York Times reports that, over the years, he had contributed some $1.2 billion to the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the American Museum of Natural History, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, the American Ballet Theatre, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, among other institutions.
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