Robert Byron Gillam (July 7, 1946 – September 12, 2018) was an American investor. He was the founder and chairman of McKinley Capital Management, an

asset management Asset management is a systematic approach to the governance and realization of value from the things that a group or entity is responsible for, over their whole life cycles. It may apply both to tangible assets (physical objects such as buildings ...

firm, until his death in 2018.

Early life

Robert Gillam graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1968. He received a master of business administration degree from the UCLA Anderson School of Management in 1969.

Career

Gillam worked for Foster & Marshall, a financial firm, until it was acquired by

American Express American Express Company (Amex) is an American multinational corporation specialized in payment card services headquartered at 200 Vesey Street in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The company was found ...

in 1982. He worked for Boettcher and Company from 1982 to 1985. Gillam was the founder of McKinley Capital Management, an asset management firm. He served as its chairman. As of 2015, it had US$7 billion of assets under management.

Political activity

Gillam was a Republican. After the

2016 presidential election This national electoral calendar for 2016 lists the national/federal elections held in 2016 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *7 January: Kirib ...

, he was regarded as a contender to be

secretary of the interior Secretary of the Interior may refer to: * Secretary of the Interior (Mexico) * Interior Secretary of Pakistan * Secretary of the Interior and Local Government (Philippines) * United States Secretary of the Interior See also

*Interior ministry ...

under Donald Trump, though Ryan Zinke was ultimately chosen for the position. He was also considered a potential candidate for

governor of Alaska A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political r ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

, but he did not run.

Personal life

Gillam resided in

Anchorage, Alaska Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Ma ...

, near Campbell Lake. He spent $30 million opposing the proposed

Pebble Mine Pebble Mine is the common name of a proposed copper-gold- molybdenum mining project in the Bristol Bay region of Southwest Alaska, near Lake Iliamna and Lake Clark. As of November 2020 the mine developer, Northern Dynasty Minerals, was seeking ...

, which would have been close to his Lake Clark fishing lodge. He was married to the former Mary Lou Couch, and had five children. Gillam died at Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage on September 12, 2018, aged 72, from complications of a stroke he had the day prior.

References

1946 births 2018 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople Alaska Republicans American financial company founders Businesspeople from Anchorage, Alaska Businesspeople from Fairbanks, Alaska Deaths from intracranial aneurysm UCLA Anderson School of Management alumni Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania alumni {{US-business-bio-stub