The godfather of the Quants has died: Jim Simons has died at the age of 86

One of the greatest investors in history died today at the age of 86, according to his foundation.

I spoke about Simons in a webinar today, so it’s a terrible coincidence that he died on the same day.

Simons didn’t start investing until the second half of his life, when he founded Renaissance Technologies in 1978 after years as a mathematics professor. But he used his skills to exploit market patterns and achieved better returns than perhaps anyone in history. Its main Medallion fund has returned an average of 66.1% since 1988 and was long closed to all but employees.

His net worth was recently estimated at $30 billion and he is the 52nd richest person in the world.

Nothing was ever revealed about Simon’s methods, but he emphasized that they have changed a lot over the years. The 2019 book about him called “The Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simons Launched the Quant Revolution” is good.