Charlie Munger

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{{Infobox_Celebrity | name = Charlie Munger | image = | birth_date = January 1, 1924 | birth_place = Omaha, Nebraska | death_date = | death_place = | occupation = Vice Chairman | salary = $100,000 USD | networth = Template:Profit $1.7 billion USD | website = }} Charles Thomas Munger (born January 1 1924, in Omaha, Nebraska) is Vice-Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Corporation, the diversified investment corporation chaired by legendary investor Warren Buffett.

Like Buffett, Munger is a native of Omaha. After studies at the University of Michigan and service in the U.S. Navy, he entered Harvard Law School without an undergraduate degree. Graduating in 1948, he founded and worked as a real estate attorney at Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP until 1965. He then gave up the practice of law to concentrate on managing investments. He used his legal knowledge to advantage, in his early investments in real estate and later investments in equities.

Munger is also the chairman of Wesco Financial Corporation, an 80.1%-owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway. It began as a savings and loan association, but now controls Precision Steel Corp., CORT Furniture Leasing, Kansas Bankers Surety Company, and other ventures. Wesco is based in Pasadena, California, Munger's adopted hometown and the site of the company's annual shareholders' meeting. Munger's meetings are nearly as legendary in the investment community as those he co-hosts with Buffett in Omaha. Such meetings are often perfunctory, but Munger interacts with the other Wesco shareholders at considerable length, sometimes speculating about what his hero Benjamin Franklin would do in a given situation.

Despite being over 80, Munger's mind has remained extremely sharp. Buffett has often publicly stated that he regards Munger as his "partner". Indeed, Munger owns enough Berkshire Hathaway stock to be a bona fide billionaire in his own right. However, Munger is hardly an older carbon copy of Buffett: Munger is known to be a Republican and a practicing Episcopalian; whereas Buffett is a Democrat and a religious skeptic. Each man feels that their differences complement rather than detract from their relationship.

In 1991, the investment bank Salomon Brothers was caught submitting false bids to the U.S. Treasury in a bid to manipulate bond pricing in its favor between December 1990 and May 1991. At the time, Berkshire Hathaway owned 14% of Salomon Brothers and Munger was a director of Salomon Brothers Inc.

Munger donated 500 shares of Berkshire Hathaway Class A stock, worth $43.5 million, to Stanford University to build a housing complex for Stanford Law School. While he did not attend Stanford, Nancy Munger, his wife, is an alumna and served on the Board of Trustees. Munger's daughter, Wendy Munger, is a current member of the Board of Trustees at Stanford.

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