AUGUST 26, 2019

How David Koch Left His Mark on New York

By Azi Paybarah

It's Monday. Remember "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York"? The boy who starred in that movie is 39 years old today.

Weather: Expect lots of sunshine and temperatures in the mid-70s.

Alternate-side parking: In effect until Labor Day (Sept. 2).

Robert Caplin for The New York Times

The David H. Koch Center for Cancer Care. The David H. Koch Dinosaur Wing.

The list goes on.

Mr. Koch, the billionaire who fueled the right-wing libertarian movement, was a generous benefactor of hospitals and museums in New York City.

He also spent so much money to influence politics that it is virtually impossible to calculate the impact.

Mr. Koch, who died on Friday at his home in Southampton, N.Y., at age 79, was a longtime New Yorker whose influence will reverberate for generations.

His New York roots

David Hamilton Koch was born in Wichita, Kan., in 1940. He made his way to New York after graduating with a degree in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1962. For 14 years, he lived in a one-bedroom apartment near Central Park.

He later upgraded his residence, buying property over the years at the United Nations Plaza, at 740 Park Avenue and in Southampton.

Mr. Koch made his fortune in the family business, the energy and chemicals conglomerate Koch Industries, and founded its New York City office.

He was very rich. And was apparently enjoying life in New York.

In 1980, he ran for vice president as a member of the Libertarian Party. New York magazine, which interviewed Mr. Koch at the time, described him as "a 40-year-old former all-American basketball center from M.I.T., a bachelor corporation president who lives in a rent-stabilized, one-bedroom apartment on Central Park South."

"He still reads, dates a lot, and likes to summer in the Hamptons," the magazine said. "Weekends, he skis or studies pollution-control designs at the office, attending society gatherings 'dragged, kicking and screaming, by a girlfriend.'"

His New York philanthropy

Mr. Koch donated $20 million to the American Museum of Natural History, which named a dinosaur wing for him.

He gave $65 million to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which named a plaza after him.

He gave $100 million to Lincoln Center, a donation that The Times called "transformative" for the center's New York State Theater, "enabling a full-scale renovation of the stage, complete with an enlarged orchestra pit that mechanically rises." The theater is now known as the David H. Koch Theater and is home to New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theater.

He gave $100 million to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and $150 million to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Both have facilities bearing Mr. Koch's name.

And that is just in New York.

He reportedly gave more than $1 billion to entities across the country, including $25 million to the United Negro College Fund and more than $200 million to M.I.T.

But Mr. Koch's philanthropy and his politics were not entirely unrelated.

In 2016, Mr. Koch resigned from the board of the American Natural History Museum after protesters demanded that nonprofits "cut all ties" with fossil-fuel companies and philanthropists like Mr. Koch. His "businesses in energy and other industries have drawn criticism from climate scientists and environmental groups," The Times wrote.

His spokeswoman at the time said the resignation was because "he does not have time to attend the board meetings."

His politics

Mr. Koch and his wife, Julia, donated $87,000 to the campaign of Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, when he ran for governor in 2010.

But Mr. Koch and his brother Charles are better known for giving to conservative causes.

Jane Mayer of The New Yorker detailed Mr. Koch's extensive spending in her 2016 book, "Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right."

Ms. Mayer wrote that Mr. Koch "vilified the very idea of government" and built a network of like-minded think tanks and political organizations, predicting that he would "exert disproportionate influence over American politics for years to come."

In a rare interview in 2014, Mr. Koch told Crain's New York Business that there was a benefit to having his name on hospitals and museums.

"The left-wing Democrats highly enjoy calling me an evil Koch brother, and the contributions I make in these many areas are tremendously worthy," he said. "It sends a message to the political groups in this country that don't like the conservative Republican businessman."

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The Mini Crossword: Here is today's puzzle.

What we're reading

There has been a 73 percent increase in the number of breakdowns and delays of New York City school buses over the past four years. [Daily News]

President Trump wrote on Twitter that he looked forward to helping complete the Second Avenue subway, baffling officials. [amNew York]

A cash register was stolen from a restaurant in Chelsea. [New York Post]

Mayor De Blasio was heckled during a live CNN broadcast over his handling of the Eric Garner case. [Daily News]

Coming up today

For National Dog Day, Hotel Indigo on the Lower East Side of Manhattan hosts an adoption event and "Yappy Hour" with the Humane Society of New York. 4 p.m. [Free]

The Strangers Project opens at Fountain House Gallery in Manhattan. Explore hundreds of anonymous, handwritten stories. 1 p.m.-9 p.m. [Free]

The traveling film festival Lunafest stops at Film Noir in Brooklyn to celebrate short films by, for and about women. 6:30 p.m. [$25]

— Amy Osorio

Events are subject to change, so double-check before heading out. For more events, see the going-out guides from The Times's culture pages.

And finally: New York's hottest makeup counter

Mary Inhea Kang for The New York Times

Sometimes you have to go when you're on the go.

Longer commutes and traffic delays mean more people may find themselves seeking the comfort stations in transit stations.

Among the vast network of mostly unpleasant restrooms a traveler must endure, there is an oasis: the women's second-floor bathroom at the Port Authority Bus Terminal.

The scene

The bathroom has black granite countertops, tall mirrors, bright overhead lights and at least one outlet that can be used daily from 5:30 a.m. to 1 a.m.

The second-floor bathroom is "one of New York's favorite places to primp," the journalist Laura Dimon recently wrote in The Times.

The upgrade

In 2014, the comedian John Oliver called the bus station the "single worst place on Planet Earth." It has been a magnet for some of New York's intractable problems: homelessness , opioid addiction and chronic transit delays.

Then, in 2017, the Port Authority started investing in some upgrades.

Lighting and mirrors were added, and attendants were assigned to each of the terminal's 14 bathrooms as part of a $110 million quality-of-commute program, Ms. Dimon wrote.

The people

Mary Inhea Kang for The New York Times

Zainab Khan, 27, who commutes from Carteret, N.J., told Ms. Dimon that the bathroom had become crucial to her morning routine: "I get coffee. I come here. I sip on it while I do my makeup. Then I'm ready for work."

Mary Inhea Kang for The New York Times

On a recent visit to the bathroom, Skye Harrison prepared to attach a faux eyelash.

And Taylor Burton, a hair and makeup artist, said she would always try for a spot near an outlet, where she could plug in her curling iron.

"It's definitely the cleanest public bathroom," Ms. Burton, 29, told Ms. Dimon.

It's Monday — make it look good.

Metropolitan Diary: On the M72

Dear Diary:

I got on a crosstown M72 and took a seat toward the back. An older man was sitting directly opposite the door, with his wheeled walker in front of him.

"Move over another seat," an older woman sitting next to him said, presumably wanting him to create some space so that others getting on could pass by.

She might have had a reason to be concerned if the bus had been filling up. But at 9:37 on a Sunday morning, it hardly seemed to matter.

Her harsh tone was not lost on a second woman.

"Leave him alone!" the second woman said. "He's not bothering anyone."

The man said nothing. The woman who had admonished him said nothing. When the second woman got off at Fifth Avenue via the rear door, she wagged a finger.

"You should be ashamed of yourself," she said to the first woman, giving her a dirty look before departing.

I felt my own bile begin to rise. I considered taking up the cause, especially when the first woman continued to insist to the man that he move.

By then, the bus had crossed Central Park and someone wanting to get off had rung the bell. I heard the woman's voice again.

"This is our stop, dear," she said.

— Deanna Taft

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