Julian Robertson (1932 – 2022) was one of the most influential financiers and a pioneer of the modern hedge fund. Born in North Carolina, Robertson was interested in the stock market from a young age. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a member of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps. Upon graduation, Robertson served in the U.S. Navy for two years.

After beginning his career as a stockbroker, Robertson founded Tiger Management in 1980, one of the first contemporary and ultimately biggest hedge funds of our time. The fund experienced years of unparalleled success and significant returns for its clients, far outperforming the Standard & Poor’s index, and showing losses in only four of its twenty-one years of existence. Key achievements of the firm included accurately predicting the dot-com bubble and successfully honing the short-selling model. Equally as important to him as his deal endeavors, Robertson employed and mentored many younger financiers who would go on to found their own successful funds. He affectionately referred to these protégés as his Tiger Cubs.

Robertson was generous with his success and donated more than $2 billion to charitable causes including medical research, charter schools, and environmental protection. The Robertson Scholars Leadership Program funds over thirty annual scholarships across the University of North Carolina and Duke University. During his lifetime, he was quoted as saying it would “thrill” him to be remembered for giving away his fortune. Robertson signed Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge, cementing such a legacy.