Charlie Munger, the longtime business partner of Warren Buffett, has died aged 99.
Berkshire Hathaway, the firm which Buffett ran with Munger, announced that the investment titan passed away ‘peacefully’ on Tuesday morning in a California hospital.
‘Berkshire Hathaway could not have been built to its present status without Charlie’s inspiration, wisdom and participation,’ Buffett said in the release.
Munger, who would have turned 100 on New Year’s Day, served as Buffett’s sounding board on investments and business decisions and helped lead Berkshire as its vice chairman since 1978.
But he had earned a fortune even before he teamed up with the business mogul in 1975 and was worth an estimated $2.7billion earlier this year. He was married twice and had seven children and two step-children.
Munger looked to be in good health and spirits and conducted interviews with the media earlier this month. He also appeared at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting in May alongside Buffett.
Charlie Munger (right), the longtime business partner of Warren Buffett (left), has died aged 99
Berkshire Hathaway, the firm which Buffett ran with Munger, announced that the investment titan passed away ‘peacefully’ on Tuesday morning in a California hospital
Munger, who would have turned 100 on New Year’s Day, served as Buffett’s sounding board on investments and business decisions and helped lead Berkshire as its vice chairman since 1978. Pictured: Munger with Buffett and Microsoft founder Bill Gates in May 2015
Munger had been Berkshire vice chairman for several decades, working closely with Buffett on allocating the Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate’s capital, and being quick to tell him when he was making a mistake.
He preferred to stay in the background and let his business partner be the face of Berkshire, and he often downplayed his contributions to the company’s remarkable success.
But Buffett, worth a staggering $120billion, always credited Munger with pushing him beyond his early value investing strategies to buy great businesses.
‘Charlie has taught me a lot about valuing businesses and about human nature,’ Buffett said in 2008.
Buffett’s early successes were based on what he learned from former Columbia University professor Ben Graham.
He would buy stock in companies that were selling cheaply for less than their assets were worth, and then, when the market price improved, sell the shares.
During the entire time they worked together, Buffett and Munger lived more than 1,500 miles apart, but Buffett said he would call Munger in Los Angeles or Pasadena to consult on every major decision he made.
Munger grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, about five blocks away from Buffett’s current home, but because Munger is seven years older the two men didn’t meet as children, even though both worked at the grocery store Buffett’s grandfather and uncle ran.
When the two men met in 1959 at an Omaha dinner party, Munger was practicing law in Southern California and Buffett was running an investment partnership in Omaha.
A photo of Munger from his high school yearbook as a senior at Central High in Omaha in 1941
During the entire time they worked together, Buffett and Munger lived more than 1,500 miles apart, but Buffett said he would call Munger in Los Angeles or Pasadena to consult on every major decision he made
Buffett and Munger seen at the Berkshire shareholder shopping day in 2019
Munger had earned a fortune even before he teamed up with business mogul Buffett in 1975 and was worth an estimated $2.7billion earlier this year
He looked to be in good health and spirits and conducted interviews with the media earlier this month
He also appeared at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting in May alongside Buffett
Buffett and Munger lived more than 1,500 miles apart, but Buffett said he would call Munger to consult on every major decision he made. Pictured: The business partners at a Dairy Queen with Bill Gates in September 2010
Buffett and Munger hit it off at that initial meeting and then kept in touch through frequent telephone calls and lengthy letters, according to the biography in Munger’s book ‘Poor Charlie’s Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger.’
The two men shared investment ideas and occasionally bought into the same companies during the 1960s and ’70s.
They became the two biggest shareholders in one of their common investments, trading stamp maker Blue Chip Stamp Co., and through that acquired See’s Candy, the Buffalo News and Wesco.
Munger became Berkshire’s vice chairman in 1978, and chairman and president of Wesco Financial in 1984.
Thousands of Berkshire shareholders will remember the curmudgeonly quips Munger offered while answering questions alongside Buffett at the annual meetings.
Munger was known for repeating ‘I have nothing to add’ after many of Buffett’s expansive answers at the Berkshire meetings.
But Munger also often offered sharp answers that cut straight to the heart of an issue, such as the advice he offered in 2012 on spotting a good investment.
‘If it’s got a really high commission on it, don’t bother looking at it,’ he said.
Munger wore thick glasses and lost his left eye after suffering complications from cataract surgery in 1980.
He married Nancy Huggins in 1945 and the couple had daughters Wendy and Molly together and a son named Teddy who died of leukemia at age 9.
The pair later divorced in 1953 and he then married Nancy Barry two years later after the pair met on a blind date at a chicken dinner restaurant.
He and Barry had children Charles Jr., Emilie, Barry and Philip together and he was also a stepfather to her two other sons William Harold Borthwick and David Borthwick.
They were together for 54 years until her death in 2010.
He was known as a voracious reader and a student of human behavior. He employed a variety of different models borrowed from disciplines like psychology, physics and mathematics to evaluate potential investments.
Munger became Berkshire’s vice chairman in 1978, and chairman and president of Wesco Financial in 1984
Thousands of Berkshire shareholders will remember the curmudgeonly quips Munger offered while answering questions alongside Buffett at the annual meetings
Munger was known for repeating ‘I have nothing to add’ after many of Buffett’s expansive answer
Munger studied mathematics at the University of Michigan in the 1940s, but dropped out of college to serve as a meteorologist in the Army Air Corps during World War II.
Then he went on to earn a law degree from Harvard University in 1948 even though he hadn’t finished a bachelor’s degree.
Munger has given significant gifts to Harvard-Westlake, Stanford University Law School, the University of Michigan and the Huntington Library as well as other charities.
He also gave a significant portion of his Berkshire stock to his eight children after his wife died in 2010.
Munger also served on the boards of Good Samaritan Hospital and the private Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles.
Munger served on the board of Costco Wholesale Corp. and as chairman of the Daily Journal Corp.