Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett's Trusted Partner, Dies At 99

Charles Munger, the billionaire businessman and attorney best-known as Warren Buffett’s right-hand man at Berkshire Hathaway, died on Tuesday at the age of 99.

With no thought of retirement, the finance sage had worked with Buffett since 1959, when the two were introduced at a dinner. Together, they ran Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A)(NYSE: BRK-B), with Buffett at the helm and Munger as vice chairman. Together they build Berkshire into a giant holding company with a market captilization of over $784 billion.

Munger also served as chairman of the Daily Journal Corporation DJCO and as a director at Costco Wholesale Corporation COST.

Munger spent some time in real estate law, co-founding Munger, Tolles & Olson in California before shifting permanently to investing. A short-lived partnership proceeded his chairmanship at Wesco Financial Corporation, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway.

While in the U.S. Army he learned a skill that served him well in business: card playing. It was something he was quoted as saying affected his approach to stock trading.

Among the other stock trading approaches Munger was known for was the “Lollapalooza effect,” the principle of inversion and steering Buffett away from what he called the “cigar-butt” version of value investing: when an investor buys a dying business worth $1 for $0.75 just “to get the 0.25% of free puff” that’s left in the business, ultimately meaning don’t buy a troubled business at a discount because the immediate gain will be eroded by low returns.

He recommended buying a good business: “Forget what you know about buying fair businesses at wonderful prices; instead, buy wonderful businesses at fair prices.”

Munger was outspoken about the need for maintaining ethical business standards, and credited them to his success.

Munger was vocal in his criticism of cryptocurrencies, referring to Bitcoin BTC/USD as a “noxious poison” and the “go-to payment method for criminals.”

Charles Thomas Munger was born Jan. 1, 1924, in Omaha, Nebraska. He was the son of Alfred C. Munger, an attorney, and Florence Russell Munger. He had two sisters, Mary Munger and Coral Munger.

Munger worked bagging groceries at Buffett & Son, a grocery store owned by Buffett’s grandfather.

He is among the billionaire college dropouts, having cut short his stint at the University of Michigan, where he studied mathematics, to enter the U.S. Army Air Corps. He was trained as an meterologist and became a second lieutenant.

Munger continued studies in meterology at Caltech in Pasadena, California, making the town his permanent home.

Munger applied to Harvard Law School, his father’s alma mater, but was rejected because he had not obtained an undergraduate degree. After a phone call from a family friend, Roscoe Pound, who also happened to be the former dean of the school, Munger was accepted and graduated magna cum laude with a J.D.

Munger had been married twice. His first marriage was to Nancy Jean Huggins in 1945 with whom he had three children. It ended in divorce in 1953. His second marriage was to Nancy Berry Borthwick in 1956 and lasted until she died in 2010. He had four children and two step-children with Borthwick.

Munger’s philanthropy focused on education, donating to University of Michigan Law School, Stanford University, and Universtiy of California, Santa Barbara.

When Munger was in his 50s, he had a failed cataract surgery, which made him blind in his left eye, eventually removing it. He still had sight in his right eye.

Munger was the author of “Poor Charlie’s Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger” and “On Success.”

Related Link: Munger: Berkshire Has Been 'Too Restrained' In Buying Apple's Stock

Taylor Cox contributed to this report.

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