Another Mysterious Banker Death…
There has been another mysterious banker suicide, and if you’ve been following that story over the last few years, this one will interest you; the story was spotted and passed along by A.S. (to whom a big thank you). I’ve written a great number of blogs about this theme, which you can access on the website by searching for “banker deaths”.
In this case, the banker death in question is that of the well-known French investment manager Charles de Vaulx:
Legendary Value Manager Charles de Vaulx Found Dead
Note the following:
Charles de Vaulx, the renowned value investor and co-founder of International Value Advisers, died in an apparent suicide on Monday afternoon, leaving the asset-management industry in shock.
…
The French money manager entered his midtown Manhattan office on Monday afternoon and jumped from the 10th floor, according to the New York Police Department. The news came less than seven weeks after IVA abruptly announced that it was closing down, and a week after it liquidated its two U.S. mutual funds.The decision to close the fund firm had surprised the industry. While assets had fallen sharply from onetime levels of $20 billion, the firm still had more than $2 billion in assets, and value investing was beginning to see a resurgence.
The article continues by various testimonies by friends and associates concerning how respected M. de Vaulx was, particularly for his conservative “value-oriented” strategy of investment. The picture is painted of a man who, far from “playing the market” for fast paper profits, was in it for long-term steadiness and genuine value to his shareholders and investors. Sadly, M. de Vaulx leaves behind a wife and two daughters, and it is these facts about his personality that make me suspicious; these traits – the steadiness of his personality, his attested kindness and willingness to work with other serious investors, and so on – does not to my mind paint a picture of a man prone to suicide.
