August 23, 2019
In Memoriam: David H. Koch ’62 SM ’63
1940-2019
Dear alumni and friends of the MIT Chemical Engineering Department,
David H. Koch, an alumnus of our Department and a long time benefactor to MIT and Chemical Engineering, has passed away. David received his SB in 1962 and stayed on for an additional year to complete the Practice School. He credited this as a formative experience, and in the 1980s David contributed a major gift that helped ensure its continued excellence for which the Practice School was renamed in his honor. He also served on the Chemical Engineering Visiting Committee for several years, and chaired it from 2011 through 2013, providing undiluted and direct advice that has been invaluable for the Department. David continued to make contributions to MIT throughout his life, including to the Biology Department and his remarkable contribution to launch the Koch Institute of Integrative Cancer Research, which currently houses five members of our Department and engages many Department members in efforts to understand and address cancer in collaboration with biologists and clinicians. He also contributed the Koch Childcare Center and gave to many other parts of MIT life.
Read his official MIT obituary
As a Department, we are grateful for all that David H. Koch contributed as an alumnus and friend toward Chemical Engineering education on campus and the MIT community.
Thanks and Best,
Paula Hammond
Department Head
David H. Koch Professor