2003 Deerfield Medal Acceptance
Given during Reunions 2003

by David C. Koch '58

The honor of receiving the Deerfield medal is perhaps the finest that I have ever been awarded and I will treasure it always. To be honest, I did not know there was such an award until Eric notified me by letter about two months ago that I had been selected to receive it. The previous recipients are some of the great names in Deerfield history and I feel that I am in extremely exalted company to be included with them.

I suspect that my being given this award has a rather lot to do with my financial generosity to the academy. You might ask how does David Koch happen to have the wealth to be so generous? Well, let me tell you a story. It all started when I was a little boy. One day my father gave me an apple. I soon sold it for 5¢ and bought two apples and sold them for 10¢. Then I bought four apples and sold them for 20¢. Well, this went on day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, until my father died and left me 300 million dollars!

Another question you might ask is why have I been so generous towards Deerfield? To answer that, let me briefly tell you about the history of my association with the academy.

I arrived at Deerfield back in 1954 at the age of 14 from Wichita, Kansas, the product of a public school education which in those days meant that I had almost no education and had come almost straight off the farm and felt very unqualified socially and intellectually to be here. For example, at my public school English exams consisted of diagramming sentences and answering true/false and multiple choice questions. I literally could not write a coherent sentence.

Over the next four years I received an extraordinary education, which converted me from an unsophisticated country boy into a fairly polished, well informed graduate. I managed to do well enough academically to be admitted into a fabulous college, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where I eventually received two degrees. Without the wonderful teaching provided here at Deerfield, I never would have made it into MIT.

Many memories come flooding back at a time like this about my experiences at Deerfield such as the many wonderful friends I made here, two of which are still my best friends.

The remarkable athletic successes we enjoyed then are certainly amongst those memories. Deerfield was a real athletic power in those days. Equally memorable was the wonderful, caring attitude towards the students by the faculty and staff. They really looked after us with great concern and made us feel like family. Headmaster Frank Boyden's focus on the personality of the school and his selection of the right kind of people to work here were, in my opinion, primarily responsible for this extraordinary environment.

So, I have much to be grateful to Deerfield for. This place has certainly been a powerful, positive influence on me all of my life.

When I was asked to serve on the Board of Directors in 1981, I eagerly accepted. It was a chance to give back something to the school in return for the great benefits I had received so abundantly years earlier. I have served on the Board fifteen of the last twenty-two years, probably longer than any modern trustee, first under Headmaster Bob Kaufmann's great leadership, and now under the equally great direction of my friend, Eric Widmer.

During this time I have witnessed, and in fact have helped contribute to the enormous positive changes that have occurred to the academy.

Here are just a few of them:

The endowment has increased from about $25 million to approximately $250 million.

Many superb facilities have been constructed, such as new dorms, the arts center, the new swimming pool, the track and field, and what I believe will be the crown jewel of the campus, the initiation of construction of the new science, math and technology building.

The academic curriculum has been expanded, upgraded and extensively diversified.

And finally, what is truly close to my heart, the conversion of the school to co-education. In fact, I had the great honor of making the motion at the board meeting in 1989 to admit girls, which passed overwhelmingly.

Today, the school is in the best condition in its history. Applications are at an all time high, the student body is of world class quality, the curriculum is brilliant, the physical plant unequalled amongst private schools, and the financial affairs are extremely strong.

Let me conclude my remarks by encouraging all of you to support this magnificent school generously. The greatness that Deerfield enjoys does not come cheaply.

Let me also say again how grateful I am to Deerfield for all that it has done for me, and to thank Eric and the Board of Directors from the bottom of my heart for the recognition and great honor I have been given by being presented with the Deerfield medal. Thanks so much.