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John Authers

There’s David Swensen, Warren Buffett and Everyone Else

Like Warren Buffett, Yale’s renowned endowment manager David Swensen held outsize sway over a generation of investing. But does his legacy hold up today?

A disciplined following of two key principles laid the foundation for David Swensen’s success.

A disciplined following of two key principles laid the foundation for David Swensen’s success.

Photographer: Peter Foley/Bloomberg

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David Swensen, who ran Yale University’s endowment since 1985 and transformed investing in the process, died of cancer on Wednesday at the age of 67. Always dedicated to his alma mater, where he received a doctorate in economics, he taught his last class on Monday.