Charlie Munger, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A) and the closest partner to the company’s founder and leader, Warren Buffett, passed away at the age of 99.
Charles Thomas Munger was born on Jan. 1, 1924, in Omaha, Nebraska. During his teen years, he worked at Buffett & Son, a grocery store owned by Warren Buffett’s grandfather. However, he never met Warren Buffett until 1959.
Munger enrolled in the University of Michigan, but dropped out in early 1943 shortly after his 19th birthday to join the U.S. Army Air Corps. After his military service, he took courses at several universities but never received an undergraduate degree. Nonetheless, he gained admission to Harvard Law School through the intercession of a influential friend of his family and graduated magna cum laude in 1948.
Munger relocated to California after graduation and joined the law firm Wright & Garrett. He co-founded the firm Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP in 1962 and focused on real estate law. He later gave up law to focus on investing and real estate development, later becoming chairman of Wesco Financial Corporation, which was acquired by Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.
Munger became vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway in 1978 and became Buffett’s right-hand man. Buffett would frequently credit Munger for the company’s extraordinary success. In more recent years, Munger became known for making provocative statements that included a downplaying of Chinese human rights abuses and dismissing Bitcoin as a “scumball activity” and “rat poison.”
In a statement, Buffett praised Munger by declaring, “Berkshire Hathaway could not have been built to its present status without Charlie’s inspiration, wisdom and participation.”
Photo of Charlie Munger in 2010 by Nick Webb / Wikimedia Commons
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