Entrepreneur. He was the founder of Koch Industries. After he graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1922 with a degree in chemical engineering practice, his career in the oil industry began with working for the Texas Company and later as the chief engineer with the Medway Oil & Storage Company. He then founded a firm that would eventually become the Winkler-Koch Engineering Company, where in 1927, he would develop a more efficient process of extracting crude oil from gasoline. He founded the Wood River Oil and Refining Company in 1940, which became Koch Industries. Three of his four sons, Charles, David, and William, followed in their father's footsteps in studying chemical engineering and becoming businessmen, and his eldest son, Frederick, became a philanthropist. He was also a staunch anti-communist activist as he wrote the pamphlet "A Business Man Looks at Communism." documenting his perspective on his visits to the Soviet Union and the potential threat of how a "communist takeover" would impact business in the United States and was later a founding member of the John Birch Society. His company management would be handed to his son, David, in 1966, and in the following year died from heart complications during a bird-hunting trip near Ogden, Utah.
Entrepreneur. He was the founder of Koch Industries. After he graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1922 with a degree in chemical engineering practice, his career in the oil industry began with working for the Texas Company and later as the chief engineer with the Medway Oil & Storage Company. He then founded a firm that would eventually become the Winkler-Koch Engineering Company, where in 1927, he would develop a more efficient process of extracting crude oil from gasoline. He founded the Wood River Oil and Refining Company in 1940, which became Koch Industries. Three of his four sons, Charles, David, and William, followed in their father's footsteps in studying chemical engineering and becoming businessmen, and his eldest son, Frederick, became a philanthropist. He was also a staunch anti-communist activist as he wrote the pamphlet "A Business Man Looks at Communism." documenting his perspective on his visits to the Soviet Union and the potential threat of how a "communist takeover" would impact business in the United States and was later a founding member of the John Birch Society. His company management would be handed to his son, David, in 1966, and in the following year died from heart complications during a bird-hunting trip near Ogden, Utah.
Bio by: J.C
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