BUSINESS MAVERICK: Obituary: Allan Gray: Death of a gentleman

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BUSINESS MAVERICK: Obituary: Allan Gray: Death of a gentleman By Sasha Planting

In a world that often feels dominated by venal, power-hungry and self-centred people, it is telling that a man who dies quietly on a Caribbean Island half a world away will leave behind a legacy that will live on for generations — and it’s not necessarily just in the institutions that bear his name.

He was not at all interested in building a “brand”, only allowing his partners to market the company more aggressively when he moved to London in 1989 to start Orbis Investment Management. It was at this point that the Allan Gray brand began to assume a more prominent role in South Africa’s financial markets.That said, he was not an introvert. Instead, he genuinely liked people — but he asked more questions and listened more than he talked, making people feel valued.

Education would remain a passion throughout his life, fed by his grandmother who is a legend in her own right and by his own simple philosophy that the most significant investment one can make is into human capital. She built the first hospital in Butterworth and later became the first woman mayor in South Africa — the mayor of Butterworth.

It was in the stock market crash of 1962, while working for asset manager Fidelity in Boston, that Gray’s skill and reputation as a contrarian investor was cemented. The market fell 21.7% in January and remained subdued until October, yet the young manager’s portfolio was up 10%.

 

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