I’ve always enjoyed reading Byron Wien’s “The Smartest Man in Europe” papers and now it shall come to an end as the previously anonymous gentleman, Edgar de Picciotto, has passed away. Here’s a snippet and link to the article, definitely worth the read.

Over the years I learned that he didn’t think like other investors, and I wondered about the formative events in his background. He was descended from a mercantile family whose roots stretch back hundreds of years to the days when they operated canteens along the Silk Route, providing food and weather protection to travelers moving to and from China and India. Born in Lebanon and educated in Europe, he came to the United States for training in finance. Sensing great opportunity as Europe recovered from World War II, he settled in Geneva and began managing the wealth that was accumulating on the continent. He was an early investor in hedge funds and his reputation as a person who could identify secular change, talent and undervalued assets ahead of others grew over the years.

Source: Blackstone