Barton Biggs,a financier whose correct market forecasts far outnumbered his mistakes,has died at the age of 79.Mr.Biggs,the son of a Bank of New York money manager,had been ill from a bacterial infection that spread to his organs.He was one of the earliest strategists to realize the importance of the emerging markets while working at Morgan Stanley from 1973-2003.Among his successful calls were the U.S. bull market of 1982;the Japanese crash of 1984;the implosion of the dot com bubble in 2000;and the bottom of the U.S. market in 2009.Along with everyone else,he had failed to predict the onset of the financial crisis in 2008.
Mr.Biggs was a graduate of Yale University with an English major and had a business degree from New York University.After Yale,he served as a U.S. Marine Corps officer for three years during the Cold War era.In his spare time,he took up mountaineering,becoming proficient enough to climb peaks in the 12,000-15,000 foot range such as Mont Blanc;the Matterhorn;and Mount Rainier.He was the author of several books,including "Hedgehogging" and "Wealth,War and Wisdom,"as well as "A Hedge Fund Tale."
Mr.Biggs,a frequent guest on business television,was one of the pioneers of the hedge fund industry at Fairfield Partners in the 1960s.He would later go on to co-found another hedge fund,Traxis Partners,in 2003 at the age of 70.
The divorced father of three and grandfather of nine dressed casually for his TV appearances.He still enjoyed the market game,he told Yahoo's Matt Nesto last year.He dismissed high frequency trading as a threat to the market,however.
Morgan Stanley(MS)
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