David Koch ’51

David was born March 7, 1930, in Elizabeth, N.J., to Herbert B. Koth 1922 and Emeline Bernard Koth. 

A graduate of Pingry, at Princeton he majored in psychology, belonged to Prospect Club, and was a member of the Band, serving as president senior year. He roomed with Harned Isele and Ben Van Tuyl. 

David served with the Marines after graduation. He earned two master’s degrees, the first a teaching degree from Wesleyan University in 1965 and the second from the New Brunswick Theological Seminary in 1990, graduating summa cum laude.

A lifelong Presbyterian, he went to New Brunswick for an organized study of religion but never chose to be ordained. He taught mathematics and horsemanship to teenagers at Groton, Bush, and Thacher, the last as assistant headmaster. He also taught at Vail-Deane, Buckingham Friends, and Wardlaw-Hartridge. A bachelor, for years he was free to travel abroad every summer, often with Elderhostel. 

David’s last years were spent in Virginia Beach at Westminster Canterbury, a continuing-care community on Chesapeake Bay, where he died Aug. 23, 2021, at age 91, survived by his brother, Richard, and his family.