Walter Jerome Schloss (August 28, 1916 – February 19, 2012) was an American investor,

fund manager Fund may refer to: * Funding is the act of providing resources, usually in form of money, or other values such as effort or time, for a project, a person, a business, or any other private or public institution ** The process of soliciting and gath ...

, and philanthropist. He was a well-regarded value investor as well as a notable disciple of the Benjamin Graham school of investing. He died of

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...

at the age of 95.

Biography

Schloss did not attend college. In 1934 at the age of 18, he started work as a runner on Wall Street. Schloss took investment courses taught by Graham at the New York Stock Exchange Institute while being employed at Loeb, Rhoades & Co. One of his classmates was

Gus Levy Gustave "Gus" Levy (May 23, 1910– November 3, 1976) was Senior Partner at Goldman Sachs from 1969 until his death in 1976. He succeeded Sidney Weinberg as chief executive officer. Early life Levy was born on May 23, 1910 to a Jewish family in ...

, the future chairman of Goldman Sachs. He eventually went to work for Graham in the Graham-Newman Partnership. In 1955, Schloss left Graham's company and started his own investment firm, eventually managing money for 92 investors. By maintaining a manageable asset size, Schloss averaged a 15.3% compound return over the course of four and a half decades, versus 10% for the

S&P 500 The Standard and Poor's 500, or simply the S&P 500, is a stock market index tracking the stock performance of 500 large companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. It is one of the most commonly followed equity indices. As of ...

. Between 1956 and 1984, the WJS Partnership's annual compounded rate was 21.3% (16.1% for the limited partners). Schloss closed out his fund in 2000 and stopped actively managing others' money in 2003. He served four years in the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

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 ...

named him as one of '' The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville'', who disproved the academic position that the market is efficient, and that beating the

was "pure chance". Warren Buffett had this to say about Schloss:

He knows how to identify securities that sell at considerably less than their value to a private owner: And that's all he does... He owns many more stocks than I do and is far less interested in the underlying nature of the business; I don't seem to have very much influence on Walter. That is one of his strengths; no one has much influence on him.

Philanthropy

Schloss was the Treasurer for Freedom House, and was a patron of the Tenement Museum. His archive is held at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

.''Schloss Archives for Value Investing'', The Heilbrunn Center for Graham & Dodd Investing at Columbia Business School
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References

External links

Experience: Walter Schloss Cover Story on ForbesBenjamin Graham and Security Analysis : A Reminiscence excerpt''Walter Schloss Presentation'', The Ben Graham School of Value Investing, Richard Ivey School of BusinessWalterSchloss.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schloss, Walter 1916 births 2012 deaths American financial analysts American investors American money managers American stock traders Businesspeople from New York City Stock and commodity market managers 20th-century American businesspeople

Biography

Philanthropy

See also

References

External links