Hedge funds lifetime honor goes to Robertson

Salisbury native Julian Robertson Jr., founder and chairman of Tiger Management Corp., has been named the recipient of the Hedge Fund Industry's Lifetime Achievement Award.

Robertson, 77, will be honored with other industry award winners at a gala dinner and ceremony June 21 at the Mandarin Oriental in New York City.

Robertson is one of Salisbury's greatest benefactors, having established the Blanche and Julian Robertson Family Foundation in 1997 to honor his late parents.

In a dozen years, the foundation has contributed more than $21 million to the community through annual grants. He established the foundation with an $18 million gift in 1997 and has since contributed another $18 million to its asset base.

A brilliant investor, Robertson built one of the most successful hedge fund firms of all time. Starting with $8 million in 1980, Robertson grew Tiger to more than $20 billion in assets under management at its height in 1998, before deciding to close its doors to outside money two years later.

Tiger's compounded annualized returns were 25 percent over the firm's 20-year life.

But industry observers say Robertson's greatest legacy may be his ability to find and mentor investment talent.

The "cubs" — analysts and traders who got their start at Tiger and have since gone on to found their own firms — are among the most influential hedge fund managers in the world.

The trend continues today with the Tiger "seeds," firms launched with Robertson seed money and support.

Robertson graduated with a degree in business administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He moved to New York after a two-year stint in the Navy and began his Wall Street career as a sales trainee with Kidder, Peabody & Co., eventually going on to head its asset management business before leaving to found Tiger.

Robertson's hands-on, sometimes combative management style influenced the early years at Tiger, according to one trade publication.

Countless investors, including many of the country's top family offices, university foundations and endowments, have enjoyed the fruits of Robertson's efforts, first by putting their money in Tiger and then by investing with the Tiger cubs and seeds.

Speaking to Institutional Investor in June 2008, Robertson said he was most proud of the influence that the Tiger Foundation, which he established in 1989, has had on the cubs, many of whom have gone on to create similar philanthropies.

The Tiger Foundation provides grants and training to nonprofit organizations that help New York's neediest families.

The Robertson Foundation, which he and his wife, Josie, founded in New York in 1996, has more than $1 billion in assets.

In 2000, Robertson created Kauri Cliffs, a luxury lodge and golf course on New Zealand's northern coast. In 2004, he opened a second course, Cape Kidnappers, in Hawke's Bay on New Zealand's North Island.

Golf Magazine ranked both courses among the top 100 in the world. Robertson also owns two New Zealand wineries: Te Awa Farm and Dry River.

In January of this year, Robertson was named New Zealand first honorary knight. He was given the title of honorary knight companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his "services to business and philanthropy."