Bruce R. (Robert) Berkowitz is an American
equity fund manager and registered investment adviser. Berkowitz founded Fairholme Capital Management in 1997 and was formerly a senior portfolio manager at
Lehman Brothers Holdings
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. ( ) was an American global financial services firm founded in 1847. Before filing for bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States (behind Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, an ...
and a managing director of
Smith Barney. Berkowitz was named 2009 Domestic-Stock Fund Manager of the Year and Domestic-Stock Fund Manager of the Decade by
Morningstar, Inc.
Morningstar, Inc. is an American financial services firm headquartered in Chicago, Illinois and was founded by Joe Mansueto in 1984. It provides an array of investment research and investment management services.
With operations in 29 countries, ...
Early life and education
Berkowitz, was raised in
Chelsea, Massachusetts
Chelsea is a city in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States, directly across the Mystic River from the city of Boston. As of the 2020 census, Chelsea had a population of 40,787. With a total area of just 2.46 s ...
, the son of Hennie (née Schneider) and Barney Berkowitz.
His father was a part-time taxi driver and owned a convenience store; his mother was a homemaker.
Berkowitz attended
Chelsea High School and Huntington Prep before graduating from
Beaver Country Day School.
In 1980, he graduated with a bachelor's degree in economics, ''cum laude'', from the
University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Career
After college, Berkowitz worked at the Strategic Planning Institute, a management consulting firm, in
Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 1983, he joined
Merrill Lynch
Merrill (officially Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated), previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American investment management and wealth management division of Bank of America. Along with BofA Securities, the investment bank ...
in
London.
In 1986 he accepted a job with
Lehman Brothers in London and then transferred to their New Jersey office in 1989 as a senior portfolio manager. In 1993, he became a managing director of
Smith Barney Investment Advisers.
In 1997, Berkowitz started his own firm, Fairholme Capital Management. The name of the firm "Fairholme" was the name of the last street on which he had lived.
In late 2010 it was announced that Berkowitz had joined the board of directors of the
St. Joe Company
The St. Joe Company is a land development company headquartered in Panama City Beach, Florida. Founded in 1936 and until 1966 known as St. Joe Paper Company, the company still operates a forestry division but is primarily engaged in real estate d ...
.
Philanthropy
Berkowitz donated $6.75 million to the
Center for Jewish History
The Center for Jewish History is a partnership of five Jewish history, scholarship, and art organizations in New York City: American Jewish Historical Society, American Sephardi Federation, Leo Baeck Institute New York, Yeshiva University Museum, ...
which is dedicated to the preservation of Jewish history and genealogy. His donation along with that of
Bill Ackman, the CEO of hedge fund
Pershing Square Capital Management, and Joseph Steinberg, the president of
Leucadia National, were the three largest individual gifts that the center has ever received.
Personal life
Berkowitz lives in
Coral Gables, Florida.
He has been married to Tracey (née Pellows) Berkowitz
since 1980, and he has two sons and one daughter.
References
External links
Fairholme FundsFairholme Capital Management
(archive)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berkowitz, Bruce
Year of birth missing (living people)
Place of birth missing (living people)
Living people
American financial businesspeople
American money managers
American financial analysts
American hedge fund managers
21st-century American philanthropists
People from Coral Gables, Florida
People from Chelsea, Massachusetts
Beaver Country Day School alumni
University of Massachusetts Amherst alumni
21st-century American Jews