Dorothy Walker Bush Koch (born August 18, 1959) is an American author and philanthropist. She is the sixth and youngest child of the late 41st

president of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal gove ...

, George H. W. Bush, and former

First Lady First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non- monarchical head of state or chief executive. The term is also used to describe a woman seen to be at the ...

Barbara Bush Barbara Pierce Bush (June 8, 1925 – April 17, 2018) was First Lady of the United States from 1989 to 1993, as the wife of President George H. W. Bush, and the founder of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. She previously w ...

Early life

Dorothy Walker Bush was born on August 18, 1959, in

Harris County, Texas Harris County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas; as of the 2020 census, the population was 4,731,145, making it the most populous county in Texas and the third most populous county in the United States. Its county seat is Houston, ...

. Her father, George H. W. Bush, was the 41st President of the United States, and her mother, Barbara Bush, was the First Lady. She was named after her paternal grandmother, Dorothy Walker Bush. Her brother, George W. Bush, was the 43rd President of the United States. Her other four siblings are Pauline Robinson "Robin" Bush, who died of

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...

in 1953; former Florida governor

Jeb Bush John Ellis "Jeb" Bush (born February 11, 1953) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 43rd governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. Bush, who grew up in Houston, was the second son of former President George H. W. Bush ...

; Neil Bush; and Marvin Bush. Since she was a child, she has spent summers and holidays at the Bush compound, a seacoast estate in Kennebunkport, Maine. Bush was educated at Miss Porter's School, a private all-girl

college-preparatory school A college-preparatory school (usually shortened to preparatory school or prep school) is a type of secondary school. The term refers to public, private independent or parochial schools primarily designed to prepare students for higher educat ...

Farmington, Connecticut Farmington is a town in Hartford County in the Farmington Valley area of central Connecticut in the United States. The population was 26,712 at the 2020 census. It sits 10 miles west of Hartford at the hub of major I-84 interchanges, 20 miles ...

. In 1975, during a visit to

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

, she became the first person to be publicly

baptized Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost i ...

in the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

since its government began discouraging foreign religious practices in 1949. She earned a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

degree in

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...

from

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classified ...

in 1982.

Career and volunteer work

Bush is an event organizer and fundraiser for charities and other

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

s. She co-chairs the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy along with her brother Jeb. She also served as a pioneer fundraiser for her brother's presidential campaigns. She is the author of the book ''My Father, My President: A Personal Account of the Life of George H. W. Bush'' (2006). She sponsored the commission of , a United States Navy aircraft carrier named after her father, who in World War II was a naval aviator serving on an aircraft carrier. On January 10, 2009, she gave the first orders to the ship's company at

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia B ...

Personal life

In 1982, Bush married William Heekin LeBlond (b. January 11, 1957). They had two children, Samuel Bush "Sam" LeBlond (b. 1985) and Nancy Ellis "Ellie" LeBlond (b. 1988). They divorced in 1990. In June 1992, she married Robert P. "Bobby" Koch (b. 1960), today a Washington, D.C. lobbyist on behalf of the wine industry. The wedding took place at

Camp David Camp David is the country retreat for the president of the United States of America. It is located in the wooded hills of Catoctin Mountain Park, in Frederick County, Maryland, near the towns of Thurmont and Emmitsburg, about north-northwest ...

. They have two children, Robert David (b. 1993) and Georgia ''Gigi'' Grace (b. 1996). Robert P. Koch was an aide to

House A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air cond ...

Democratic leader Richard Gephardt, and is president of the California-based Wine Institute. He has a substantial

equity Equity may refer to: Finance, accounting and ownership *Equity (finance), ownership of assets that have liabilities attached to them ** Stock, equity based on original contributions of cash or other value to a business ** Home equity, the diff ...

interest in Central European Distribution Corp., a company that manufactures and distributes

vodka Vodka ( pl, wódka , russian: водка , sv, vodka ) is a clear distilled alcoholic beverage. Different varieties originated in Poland, Russia, and Sweden. Vodka is composed mainly of water and ethanol but sometimes with traces of impuriti ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Koch, Dorothy Bush 1959 births 20th-century American women 21st-century American biographers American women biographers 21st-century American women writers American people of Dutch descent American philanthropists Boston College alumni Bush family Children of George H. W. Bush Children of vice presidents of the United States Living people Livingston family Miss Porter's School alumni People from Bethesda, Maryland People from Cape Elizabeth, Maine People from Harris County, Texas Schuyler family Writers from Maryland Writers from Texas