‘Greatest investor on Wall Street’ Jim Simons dies at 86 as tributes paid to mathematician who built $32b net worth
BILLIONAIRE investor Jim Simons has died at age 86.
Simons died on Friday in New York City, the Simons Foundation, his private grant organization, announced.
The successful investor and award-winning mathematician was remembered as a titan on Wall Street.
"Jim was active in the work of the Simons Foundation until the end of his life, and his curiosity and lifelong passion for math and basic science were an inspiration to those around him," the Simons Foundation said.
"He was determined to make a meaningful difference in the level of support that mathematics and basic sciences received in the United States, notably by sponsoring projects that were important but unlikely to find funding elsewhere."
A cause of death was not immediately disclosed.
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Simons and his wife, Marilyn Simons, established the private New York City-based foundation in 1994.
The Simons Foundation is one of the largest charitable institutions that supports the advancement of mathematics and basic science.
"Over its 30-year history, the Simons Foundation's work has led to breakthroughs in our understanding of autism, the origins of the universe, cellular biology and computational science," the charitable foundation added.
Simons Foundation president David Spergel, who took over for Marilyn Simons after she stepped down in 2021, recognized the couple's work as having a world-leading impact.
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"Jim was an exceptional leader who did transformative work in mathematics and developed a world-leading investment company," Spergel said.
"Together with Marilyn Simons, the current Simons Foundation board chair, Jim created an organization that has already had enormous impact in mathematics, basic science and our understanding of autism.
"The Simons Foundation, an in-perpetuity foundation, will carry their vision for philanthropy into the future."
Simons previously chaired the math department at Stony Brook University before deciding to quit academia and pursue trading.
Before he and his wife established the Simons Foundation, Jim Simons founded Renaissance Technologies in the 1980s.
Renaissance still ranks as one of the most successful quantitative hedge funds of all time.
The firm uses quantitative trading and algorithms to make direct investment decisions, upending renowned investors Warren Buffet and George Soros.
"I developed a view that markets are not random, and [were] to some extent predictable," Simons previously told The Wall Street Journal.
"These were statistical anomalies that could be exploited."
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When developing Renaissance, Simons told a friend, "I want models that will make money while I sleep. A pure system without humans interfering," The Wall Street Journal reported.
In addition to his wife, Marilyn, Simons is survived by their three children, five grandchildren, and a great-grandchild.