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Economy
In reply to the discussion: Weekend Economists Deck the Halls Christmas Day 2013 [View all]Demeter
(85,373 posts)63. Robert Wilson, Hedge Fund Founder, Leaps to His Death at 87
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-24/robert-w-wilson-hedge-fund-founder-leaps-to-his-death-at-87.html
Robert W. Wilson, a retired New York hedge-fund founder who committed his life to giving the fortune he made from investing to charities, has died. He was 87.
He died Dec. 23 after leaping from his 16th-floor residence at the San Remo apartment building on Manhattans Central Park West, according to a person with knowledge of the incident who asked not to be identified because family members hadnt been notified. Police said an 87-year-old man was found in a courtyard at the rear of the building and pronounced dead from an apparent suicide. He suffered a stroke in June, Gary Castle, his accountant, said yesterday in a telephone interview.
Wilson, whose Wall Street career spanned five decades, started Wilson & Associates, a hedge fund, in 1969 after working as a securities analyst. He retired in 1986 and, by 2000, his net worth peaked at about $800 million, Castle said. By then, he had already begun to give most of his money away, donating more than $500 million to charities, primarily to conservation groups, Castle said...
Robert W. Wilson, a retired New York hedge-fund founder who committed his life to giving the fortune he made from investing to charities, has died. He was 87.
He died Dec. 23 after leaping from his 16th-floor residence at the San Remo apartment building on Manhattans Central Park West, according to a person with knowledge of the incident who asked not to be identified because family members hadnt been notified. Police said an 87-year-old man was found in a courtyard at the rear of the building and pronounced dead from an apparent suicide. He suffered a stroke in June, Gary Castle, his accountant, said yesterday in a telephone interview.
Wilson, whose Wall Street career spanned five decades, started Wilson & Associates, a hedge fund, in 1969 after working as a securities analyst. He retired in 1986 and, by 2000, his net worth peaked at about $800 million, Castle said. By then, he had already begun to give most of his money away, donating more than $500 million to charities, primarily to conservation groups, Castle said...
Robert Warne Wilson was born on Nov. 3, 1926, in Detroit. He graduated from Amherst College, magna cum laude, with a degree in economics in 1946 and earned a masters degree in the subject from the University of Michigan in 1947. He then entered Michigans law school and, after two years, left for Wall Street.
In 1949, Wilson got his first job in New York, as a trainee at First Boston Corp., which was later acquired by Zurich-based Credit Suisse Group AG. He was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1951 and returned to First Boston in 1953.
He moved back to his hometown that year to become a securities analyst in the trust department at National Bank of Detroit. He returned to New York in 1958 to work as an analyst, and eventually as a vice president, at General American Investors, a closed-end investment trust, and went to A.G. Becker & Co. four years later, where he remained until founding his hedge fund.
Wilsons career as an investor was almost tripped up in 1978 by what Forbes magazine described as the most catastrophic short play in modern times. In May of that year, he created a short position of 200,000 shares of Resorts International at an average price of $15 each, according to a 1979 account in Forbes. The company had just opened the first gambling casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and Wilson was betting the stock would fall. Instead, the shares rose to $20.
Im getting crucified, but I may short more, Wilson said, according to Forbes. He then set out on a six-month vacation to Europe, Asia and Australia.
The shares continued to rise and by September, Wilson was in Taipei and they reached $190. By then he was covering his short position, buying back the stock at appreciated levels, costing him millions of dollars in losses.
In 1949, Wilson got his first job in New York, as a trainee at First Boston Corp., which was later acquired by Zurich-based Credit Suisse Group AG. He was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1951 and returned to First Boston in 1953.
He moved back to his hometown that year to become a securities analyst in the trust department at National Bank of Detroit. He returned to New York in 1958 to work as an analyst, and eventually as a vice president, at General American Investors, a closed-end investment trust, and went to A.G. Becker & Co. four years later, where he remained until founding his hedge fund.
Wilsons career as an investor was almost tripped up in 1978 by what Forbes magazine described as the most catastrophic short play in modern times. In May of that year, he created a short position of 200,000 shares of Resorts International at an average price of $15 each, according to a 1979 account in Forbes. The company had just opened the first gambling casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and Wilson was betting the stock would fall. Instead, the shares rose to $20.
Im getting crucified, but I may short more, Wilson said, according to Forbes. He then set out on a six-month vacation to Europe, Asia and Australia.
The shares continued to rise and by September, Wilson was in Taipei and they reached $190. By then he was covering his short position, buying back the stock at appreciated levels, costing him millions of dollars in losses.
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