Bruce S. Sherman (born May 1948) is an American businessman and co-founder of the wealth-management firm Private Capital Management
and the chairman and majority owner of the
Miami Marlins
The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The club's home ballpark is LoanDepot Park.
The franc ...
of
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
.
Early life
Sherman was raised in a middle-class neighborhood in
Queens, New York
Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long I ...
, the son of Sylvia and Michael Sherman.
His mother was a school teacher in New York public schools.
[New York Times: "Sylvia Sherman - Obituary"]
December 30, 2012 He has two brothers, Peter and Joel.
He graduated with a B.A. from the
University of Rhode Island
The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of the state of Rhode Island ...
and received a M.B.A. from
Baruch College
Baruch College (officially the Bernard M. Baruch College) is a public college in New York City. It is a constituent college of the City University of New York system. Named for financier and statesman Bernard M. Baruch, the college operates und ...
.
After college, he worked for the accounting firm
Arthur Young and then at the age of 29, was recruited by an executive search firm to be chief financial officer for a company owned by the
Collier family.
[New York Times: "In a Big Bet on Newspapers, a Shy Investor Makes News" by Gearldine Fabrikant"]
December 8, 2005
Career
In 1985, he co-founded the wealth-management firm Private Capital Management (PCM) whose initial client was the Collier family.
PCM expanded its customer base to include government agencies, colleges and universities.
The firm grew to $4.4 billion in assets under management in 1999.
In 1997, PCM sold
International Dairy Queen (1997) to investor
Warren Buffett
Warren Edward Buffett ( ; born August 30, 1930) is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is currently the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is one of the most successful investors in the world and has a net w ...
for $585 million.
In 2001, he sold PCM to
Legg Mason
Legg Mason was an American investment management and asset management firm headquartered in Baltimore, founded in 1899 and acquired by Franklin Templeton Investments as of July 2020. As of December 31, 2019, the company had $730.8 billion in asse ...
for $1.4 billion. Sherman remained at the firm's helm and sold two additional companies to Buffett:
Shaw Industries
Shaw Industries Group, Inc. is one of the world's largest carpet manufacturers with more tha$6 billion in annual revenueand approximately 22,000 employees worldwide.Prem C. Jain, ''Buffett Beyond Value: Why Warren Buffett Looks to Growth and Mana ...
in 2001 for $2.1 billion and Garan (the maker of
Garanimals
Garanimals is an American brand of children's related clothing separates, created by Seymour Lichtenstein in 1972 for Garan Incorporated. Each item of clothing features a hang-tag depicting one of several animal characters called Garanimals.
The ...
) in 2002 for $270 million.
Over the years, some of his successes include investments in
Qualcomm Inc,
Apple Computer
Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company b ...
,
International Game Technology
International Game Technology PLC (IGT), formerly Gtech S.p.A. and Lottomatica S.p.A., is a multinational gambling company that produces slot machines and other gambling technology. The company is headquartered in London, with major offices in ...
,
Banknorth and Charter One Financial.
By 2005, PCM had $31 billion in assets.
By 2009, PCM's assets had reduced to $2.4 billion after several bad investments in newspaper companies (
Knight Ridder
Knight Ridder was an American media company, specializing in newspaper and Internet publishing. Until it was bought by McClatchy on June 27, 2006, it was the second largest newspaper publisher in the United States, with 32 daily newspaper brand ...
, the
New York Times Company
The New York Times Company is an American mass media company that publishes ''The New York Times''. Its headquarters are in Manhattan, New York City.
History
The company was founded by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones in New York City. T ...
, and
Gannett Company
Gannett Co., Inc. () is an American mass media holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.[Bear Stearns
The Bear Stearns Companies, Inc. was a New York-based global investment bank, securities trading and brokerage firm that failed in 2008 as part of the global financial crisis and recession, and was subsequently sold to JPMorgan Chase. The compa ...]
(which collapsed in 2008).
Sherman retired in 2009 stating "I am very proud of my investment career over 23 years, especially the first 22 years."
In August 2017, Sherman led a business group, including
Michael Jordan
Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player. His biography on the official NBA website states: "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the g ...
and
Derek Jeter
Derek Sanderson Jeter ( ; born June 26, 1974) is an American former professional baseball shortstop, businessman, and baseball executive. As a player, Jeter spent his entire 20-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the New York Yankees ...
, that made a $1.2 billion bid to purchase the
Miami Marlins
The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The club's home ballpark is LoanDepot Park.
The franc ...
from
Jeffrey Loria
Jeffrey Harold Loria (born November 20, 1940) is an American art dealer, author, and the former owner of the Montreal Expos (now the Washington Nationals) and Miami Marlins of Major League Baseball.
Early life
Loria was born and raised in a Americ ...
.
Sherman is currently the team's principal owner and chairman.
Philanthropy
Sherman and his wife support various charities including the
Naples Winter Wine Festival which benefits the Naples Children and Education Fund.
In 2016, the couple founded the Sherman Prize which awards prizes to those who have made advances in the fight against inflammatory bowel diseases including
ulcerative colitis
Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a long-term condition that results in inflammation and ulcers of the colon and rectum. The primary symptoms of active disease are abdominal pain and diarrhea mixed with blood (hematochezia). Weight loss, fever, and a ...
and
Crohn's disease
Crohn's disease is a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that may affect any segment of the gastrointestinal tract. Symptoms often include abdominal pain, diarrhea (which may be bloody if inflammation is severe), fever, abdominal distension ...
(of which both his daughters are afflicted).
The Shermans endowed the Bruce and Cynthia Sherman Professorship of Urology Research and Innovation at
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
.
His wife is a founder of the Holocaust Museum of Southwest Florida in Naples.
Personal life
In 1999, he married Cynthia Kahn in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
.
He has two daughters,
Lori Shaer and Randi Stanley,
[Sun Sentinel: "Children honor mothers at Book of Hope" by Marci Shatzman]
March 11, 2015Sherman Prize: "2016 Sherman Prize Event - Lori Shaer"
retrieved August 19, 2017 from a previous marriage to Marlene Bluestein.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sherman, Bruce
1948 births
American business executives
Living people
Major League Baseball executives
Miami Marlins owners
Baruch College alumni
University of Rhode Island alumni
People from Queens, New York