Legendary investor Templeton dies

By Muralikumar Anantharaman

BOSTON (Reuters) - John Templeton, a pioneering mutual fund manager, global investor and billionaire philanthropist, died of pneumonia in a hospital in the Bahamas on Tuesday, a spokeswoman at his foundation said. He was 95.

Templeton, who started his career on Wall Street in 1937, created several successful international funds before selling Templeton Funds in 1992 to Franklin Resources (BEN.N: Quote, Profile, Research) for $440 million (223 million pounds) in what was then the largest acquisition of an independent mutual fund company.

He remained deeply involved in his business until he was nearly 80, when he shifted focus to philanthropy. "People keep noticing that I'm 79 years old, and ask me what would happen if I would die," he told Reuters in an interview in 1992 while negotiating the sale of his firm.

"I have to take that into account," he said.

He died at 12:20 a.m. after being admitted about a week ago to Doctors Hospital in Nassau, said John Templeton Foundation spokeswoman Pamela Thompson.

In 1954 Templeton set up the Templeton Growth Fund at a time when few Americans considered investing offshore. The fund has returned 13.3 percent on average annually. A $10,000 investment made when the fund began is worth about $8 million today, according to Franklin Resources.

Templeton's knack for investing was evident as early as 1939, when at the start of World War II he borrowed money to buy 100 shares each in 104 companies that sold for $1 per share or less, including 34 companies that were in bankruptcy.

According to the foundation's website, only four of those 100 turned out to be worthless, and Templeton made large profits on the others after holding each for an average of four years. In 1999, Money magazine called him "arguably the greatest global stock picker of the century."