Charlie Munger

Charlie Munger was the Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and Warren Buffett's indispensable partner for over six decades. Born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1924, he graduated from Harvard Law School without an undergraduate degree and initially practiced law before transitioning to investment management. He met Buffett in 1959, and their partnership became the most successful in the history of capitalism. Munger's greatest contribution to Berkshire was philosophical: he convinced Buffett to abandon the Benjamin Graham school of buying mediocre businesses at deep discounts ("cigar butt" investing) and instead focus on acquiring wonderful businesses at fair prices. This insight led to transformative investments in Coca-Cola, See's Candies, and later Apple — investments that generated hundreds of billions in value. His intellectual framework of "mental models" — drawing from psychology, physics, biology, economics, and engineering to make better decisions — became influential far beyond investing. His speeches at the Berkshire and Daily Journal annual meetings, and his book "Poor Charlie's Almanack," are considered essential reading in value investing circles. Munger also served as Chairman of the Daily Journal Corporation and was an accomplished architect and real estate developer. He was known for his acerbic wit, intellectual honesty, and willingness to criticize entire industries including cryptocurrency, which he famously called "rat poison." He died on November 28, 2023, just 33 days before his 100th birthday, leaving an irreplaceable void at Berkshire Hathaway.