The Gazette’s paean to David Koch (“Academy mourns Koch’s passing,” Aug. 24) couches the profound damage he has done — to the process of governance in this country, to social and political relations in this country, to the economy of this country, to the physical world in which we live (read: environment) — in terms of upstanding, admirable sounding political and civic involvement.
Your description hardly does justice to the scale or the nature of his destructiveness. The New York Times ran an op-ed (“David Koch was the ultimate climate change denier,” by Christopher Leonard) which, if your word-limit had allowed, I would have pasted into this letter. I encourage you to read it.
Perhaps it will fill out your knowledge of him and spur you to publish a more accurate portrayal.
Jonathan P. Levin
Northampton