David Koch will be stepping down from his political and corporate roles due to health issues, his brother Charles Koch announced in a letter to company officials Tuesday morning.
“David has always been a fighter and is dealing with this challenge in the same way,” Charles wrote in the letter, according to Bloomberg.
David will be leaving his roles as executive vice president and board member for Koch Industries, chairman and executive officer at subsidiary Koch Chemical Technology group, and chairman of the board for the Koch’s non-profit Americans for Prosperity Foundation.
Charles, the older of the two brothers, will continue to serve as the CEO of Koch Industries.
The brothers have given millions to the GOP over the years through Republican candidate, committee, and cause donations, and Democrats have castigated the brothers for their influence on the Republican Party.
Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid would regularly say that Republicans had a “Koch addiction.”
However, while the Koch brothers praise President Trump‘s policies on taxes, deregulation, and healthcare, they never endorsed him for president and have regularly clashed with the administration.
On Monday, the political network backed by the Koch brothers, including Freedom Partners, Americans for Prosperity, and Libre Initiative, announced a multimillion-dollar campaign that would oppose Trump’s tariffs and instead highlight benefits of free trade.
David Koch was the Libertarian Party’s vice presidential candidate in 1980.
