Charlie Munger Biography
Charlie Munger is a billionaire investor, businessman, and former real estate attorney from the United States. He is the vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett’s conglomerate; Buffett has described Munger as his closest partner and right-hand man.
How old is Charlie Munger? – Age
He is 98 years old as of 1 January 2022. He was born in 1924 in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. His real name is Charles Thomas Munger.
Charlie Munger Family – Education
As a teenager, he worked at Buffett & Son, Warren Buffett’s grandfather’s grocery store. Alfred Case Munger, his father, was a lawyer. Thomas Charles Munger, a U.S. district court judge, and state representative was his grandfather. He attended the University of Michigan and majored in mathematics. During his college years, he was a member of the fraternity Sigma Phi Society. In early 1943, just a few days after his 19th birthday, he dropped out of college to join the United States Army Air Corps, where he rose to the rank of second lieutenant. He was ordered to study meteorology at Caltech in Pasadena, California, after receiving a high score on the Army General Classification Test.
Munger used the GI Bill to attend a number of advanced courses at various universities. When Munger applied to Harvard Law School, his father’s alma mater, the dean of admissions rejected him because he had not completed an undergraduate degree. The dean, however, relented after receiving a phone call from Roscoe Pound, the former dean of Harvard Law and a Munger family friend. Munger excelled in law school, earning a J.D. magna cum laude in 1948. He was a member of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau while at Harvard.
Charlie Munger Wife
Munger married Nancy Huggins, the daughter of Frederick R. Huggins and Edith M. Huggins, in 1945 while still a student at Caltech. She was a Pasadena native and Munger’s sister’s Scripps College roommate. Munger remarried Nancy Barry, within a few years of his divorce. Nancy Huggins Freeman, Munger’s first wife, died of cancer on July 22, 2002, at the age of 76. Nancy Barry Munger, Munger’s second wife, died at home on February 6, 2010, at the age of 86.
Charlie Munger Children
He has three children from his first marriage; Wendy Munger, a former corporate lawyer, Stanford University trustee, and trustee of The Huntington Library, Molly Munger, a civil rights attorney and funder of a ballot initiative to raise California taxes for public education, and Teddy Munger were their three children, deceased, leukemia, age 9. He has four children from his second marriage with Nancy Barry, the daughter of David Noble Barry Jr. and Emilie Hevener Barry: physicist and Republican activist Charles T. Munger Jr., Emilie Munger Ogden, Barry A. Munger, and Philip R. Munger, and two stepchildren: William Harold Borthwick and David Borthwick.
How did Charlie Munger lose an eye? – Eye
Munger had his left eye removed due to severe pain in his 50s after a failed eye cataract surgery rendered his left eye blind. Munger began learning braille after doctors informed him that he had developed a condition that could cause his remaining eye to fill with blood and become blind as well. His eye condition has since improved, and he can still see out of his right eye.
What stocks does Charlie Munger own?
From 1962 to 1975, he ran his own investment partnership, which generated compound annual returns of 19.8% compared to the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s annual appreciation rate of 5.0%. He was previously the chairman of Wesco Financial Corporation, a Berkshire Hathaway wholly owned subsidiary. Munger believes that holding a small number of stocks that he knows intimately will result in superior returns.
Does Charlie Munger own Berkshire Hathaway?
Munger was previously the chairman of Wesco Financial Corporation, a Berkshire Hathaway wholly owned subsidiary. It started as a savings and loan association but grew to control Precision Steel Corp., CORT Furniture Leasing, Kansas Bankers Surety Company, and other businesses. Wesco Financial also had a $1.5 billion concentrated equity portfolio in companies like Coca-Cola, Wells Fargo, Procter & Gamble, Kraft Foods, US Bancorp, and Goldman Sachs. Munger believes that holding a concentrated number of stocks that he knows intimately will produce superior long-term returns. Wesco’s headquarters are in Pasadena, California, Munger’s adopted hometown.
Pasadena was also the location of the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting, which was usually held on the Wednesday or Thursday following the more well-known Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting. Munger’s meetings were almost as well-known in the investment world as those he co-hosts with Buffett in Omaha. Such meetings were frequently brief, but Munger engaged in lengthy discussions with the other Wesco shareholders, sometimes speculating on what Benjamin Franklin would do in a given situation. Meeting notes have been posted on the Futile Finance? website, but there have been no updates since 2011.
Charlie Munger Net Worth – Wealth
According to Forbes, Munger has a net worth of $1.9 billion as of January 2021. Munger is a generous supporter of the University of Michigan. Munger made a $3 million gift to the University of Michigan Law School in 2007 to improve lighting in Hutchins Hall and the William W. Cook Legal Research Building, which includes the well-known Reading Room. Munger made another gift to the Law School in 2011, contributing $20 million to the Lawyers Club housing complex renovations, which will cover the majority of the $39 million cost. In his honor, the renovated portion of the Lawyers Club will be renamed the Charles T. Munger Residences in the Lawyers Club.
The Mungers gave $1.8 million to the Marlborough School in Los Angeles, where Nancy Munger attended. The couple also gave to the Pasadena Polytechnic School and the Los Angeles YMCA. Munger donated 10 shares of Berkshire Hathaway Class A stock (currently valued at $422,214 per share, or $4.22 million total) to the University of Michigan on December 28, 2011.
Munger and his late wife, Nancy B. Munger, have made significant contributions to Stanford University. Nancy Munger attended Stanford, as did Wendy Munger, Charlie Munger’s daughter from a previous marriage (A.B. 1972). Nancy and Wendy Munger both served on the Stanford board of trustees. In 2004, the Mungers gave Stanford 500 shares of Berkshire Hathaway Class A stock, worth $43.5 million at the time, to help build a graduate student housing complex. Munger has not signed The Giving Pledge, which was initiated by his partner and co-director, Warren Buffett.
Charlie Munger Portfolio
Munger was previously the chairman of Wesco Financial Corporation, a Berkshire Hathaway wholly owned subsidiary. It started as a savings and loan association but grew to control Precision Steel Corp., CORT Furniture Leasing, Kansas Bankers Surety Company, and other businesses. Wesco Financial also had a $1.5 billion concentrated equity portfolio in companies like Coca-Cola, Wells Fargo, Procter & Gamble, Kraft Foods, US Bancorp, and Goldman Sachs. Munger believes that holding a concentrated number of stocks that he knows intimately will produce superior long-term returns.