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One of Africa’s most storied investors, Allan Gray, the founder of the eponymous investment firm, has passed away at the age of 81.
According to a press statement issued on Monday by the Cape Town-based investment management business, Gray died on Sunday of natural causes.
“It is with deep sadness that we share the news of the death of Allan William Buchanan Gray on November 10, 2019, of natural causes,” said the investment management company in a brief statement. “Our first thoughts are with his family, and with them, as colleagues and friends, we are mourning the passing of a man who made an immeasurable impact on many lives as an entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist. He has earned his rest.”
Allan Gray, who was born in East London in 1938, founded his eponymous Cape Town-based investment management firm Allan Gray Limited in 1973. It is the largest privately-owned asset manager in South Africa, overseeing more than $35 billion in assets. Gray started the company after earning his MBA from Harvard and spending eight years at Fidelity Investments in the U.S. He founded another asset manager, Orbis Investment Management, in 1989 in Bermuda.
Even though he was notoriously private, Gray was one of Africa’s most generous philanthropists. In 2005, he founded the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation which provides scholarships to African students who demonstrate exceptional leadership potential. In December 2015, he announced plans to donate the bulk of his wealth to charity.
In 2017, Forbes Magazine estimated his net worth at $1.8 billion.
Credit: Mfonobong Nsehe