7th Richest American with ties to Montana Dies at 79

Ever hear of the Koch brothers? Charles and David Koch (pronounced Coke)?  They own Koch Industries, a mega-company that is involved in a number of things.  Well, the Koch Bros are extremely wealthy. We're talking over 50 some billion, making them the 7th richest pair in American. Anyway, according to the Associated Press, one of the brothers, David, died this week at the age of 79.

What's interesting is that these two brothers own one of the biggest ranches in Montana, the Beaverhead Ranch near Dillon, MT.  How big, you ask? 345,000 owned and leased acres. Holy cow. Speaking of cows, the ranch runs about 8,000 cows per year. It might actually be one of the biggest ranches in the world.

The Koch's (well, now just one Koch) are big philanthropists. Through their various foundations, they have donated a boatload of money to mostly conservative causes. Remember the Tea Party folks? They got cash from Koch.  As do most conservative politicians. Hey, it's their money and if the want to spend it on politics, they're certainly not the only rich white dudes to donate to causes they feel are important.