‘Self-confident yet selfless’: Yale’s David Swensen dies at 67

‘Self-confident yet selfless’: Yale’s(yāl) David Swensen dies at 67

David F. Swensen ’80 Ph.D., whose revolutionary(ˌrevəˈlo͞oSHəˌnerē) approach to managing Yale’s endowment(inˈdoumənt), warmth of spirit, and personal integrity(inˈteɡrədē) made him one of the world’s most admired(ədˈmī(ə)r) institutional(ˌinstəˈt(y)o͞oSH(ə)n(ə)l) investors and a beloved member of the Yale community, died May 5 in New Haven(ˈhāvən), after a long battle with cancer. He was 67.

Self-confident, selfless, spirited, and guided by a finely tuned(t(y)o͞on) moral(ˈmôrəl) compass(ˈkəmpəs), Swensen assumed management of Yale’s endowment in the mid-1980s, when he was in his early 30s and the endowment stood at $1.3 billion. In the decades to come, he won(wən) international renown(rəˈnoun) for an approach to institutional investing that emphasized(ˈemfəˌsīz) diversification(dəˌvərsəfəˈkāSH(ə)n) beyond publicly traded stocks and bonds, especially with illiquid(ˌi(l)ˈlikwəd) and alternative(ôlˈtərnədiv) assets(ˈaset), for his commitment to ethical(ˈeTHək(ə)l) action in work and life, and for financial results.

Over Swensen’s 35-year stewardship(ˈst(y)o͞oərdˌSHip), the Yale Endowment generated returns of 13.1% per annum(anəm) through June 30, 2020, outperforming the Cambridge(ˈkāmbrij) Associates mean by 3.4% and a traditional 60% stock/40% fixed income portfolio(pôrtˈfōlēˌō) by 4.3% per annum.

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Widely celebrated outside the university for his pioneering(ˌpīəˈniriNG) and influential(ˌinflo͞oˈen(t)SH(ə)l) work as an investment manager — and as a mentor(ˈmenˌtôr) for other future top investment leaders — Swensen was also known within Yale as an engaged teacher, a wise and candid(ˈkandəd) counselor(ˈkouns(ə)lər), and an enthusiastic(inˌTH(y)o͞ozēˈastik) university citizen.

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https://news.yale.edu/2021/05/06/self-confident-yet-selfless-yales-david-swensen-dies-67