Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
About William I. Koch
principles:
“You’ve got to concentrate on the reality and ignore the perception of whatever you are doing.”
The other was driven home by his basketball coach at MIT, who turned a team of “nerds” into champions by having them perfect simple plays and developing each player’s unique strength. “Most importantly, he told us we could be winners if we worked together.”
Koch parlayed what he learned about teamwork and engineering at MIT into one of his proudest successes — leading his team America 3 to win the America’s Cup yacht race in 1992.
In Palm Beach County, William Koch has donated millions of dollars of his fortune to philanthropic causes.
In 2011, he opened Oxbridge Academy of the Palm Beaches, a preparatory school “where lectures take a back seat to projects and note taking is replaced by hands-on learning,” its website says.
He said he has spent about $100 million of his own money on the school, which is open to academically gifted students of all backgrounds.
He said one of the reasons he was motivated to open Oxbridge was because he attended good schools and “really lousy schools.”
“I found the lousy ones make people really mad and angry and not good for society,” he said. “Good schools can make a lot of people, including people who are hardened, want to be productive.”
About 40 percent of students at the school receive some kind of scholarship, Koch said. About 150 graduates this year received about 500 offers from top universities, he said.
“Bill’s vision for establishing Oxbridge Academy was simple: to provide the best education possible for all children, focusing on the pursuit of knowledge, a love of learning and a culture of kindness,” said Oxbridge Academy President and CEO David Rosow.
“He knows the difference an excellent education can mean in one's life, and he wanted to establish a generous financial aid program to ensure that the education provided at Oxbridge Academy is available to students from diverse backgrounds,” he added. “As a result, the student body at Oxbridge is diverse, representing 23 different local communities with 43 percent of Oxbridge students receiving financial assistance. His continuing dedication to the school has helped make his vision a reality for our students today.”
William Koch has also supported Palm Beach County’s public schools in numerous ways over the years, said Brad Goldstein, a communications professional who has worked for Position: Chief executive officer, founder of Oxbow Carbon LLC. Personal: Age 78. Married to Bridget Rooney Koch; six children. Education: Massachusetts Institute of Technology; bachelor of science degree, 1962; master of science, 1963; doctor of science degree, 1971. Career highlights: MIT Roger de Friez Hunneman Prize Winner for Outstanding Originality for Chemical Engineering; Oxbow Carbon LLC routinely ranked among top Fortune 500 privately held companies; 1992 America’s Cup winner; Yachtsman of the Year Winner; World Maxi Boat and 12 Meter Champion; Kansan of the Year; recipient of Ellis Island Medal of Honor. Community involvement: Started Oxbridge Academy of the Palm Beaches (private high school); routinely donates to Palm Beach County public schools; and has exhibited art at The Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Wichita Art Museum; Yellowstone Art Museum; and the U.S. Naval Academy. Was founder and chairman of the Kansas Crime Commission for more than five years. Hobbies: Sailing, whitewater kayaking, history of American West, cowboy poetry and ranching. Oxbow for about 20 years.
Gifts include equipment for the Pahokee High School football team, computers for Roosevelt Middle School in West Palm Beach, and for Bak School of the Arts, ceramics kilns, musical instruments and money to build the school auditorium, Goldstein said.
An avid collector of maritimeand Old West-themed art, he welcomes school groups to his home every year to see his extensive collection.
In Palm Beach, where he lives, Koch serves as a director of the Palm Beach Police Foundation and its Crime Watch program, and has given scholarships to qualifying children of police officers in the town.
Acting Police Chief Ann-Marie Taylor said his contributions have been invaluable to the police department. “Words cannot adequately express my gratitude for the role the [foundation] plays in the lives of our police officers,” she said.