Scott Minerd, global chief investment officer at Guggenheim Partners, died of a heart attack during regular training, the Chicago-based financial firm announced Thursday.
A former competition coachbuilder, Minerd joined Guggenheim shortly after its inception in 1999. He became a well-known market commentator, with statements on macroeconomic trends which were closely followed by investors and on Twitter, where his followers numbered 169,000. He was considered one of the great bond investors of the past decades.
Minerd, who was 63, was a prominent face at the Guggenheim as it transformed from the wealthy Guggenheim family’s private investment office into one of America’s biggest fund managers with $285 billion in assets. assets. He was also a key adviser to US central bankers as a member of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Capital Markets Investor Advisory Board.
“I have known Scott for over 30 years and we have been partners for much of that time. Scott was a key innovator and thought leader who helped make Guggenheim Investments the global company it is today,” said Mark Walter, CEO and Founder of Guggenheim Partners in a statement. “He will be missed by all. My deepest condolences go out to his husband, family and loved ones.”
the FT reported in 2017 that Minerd and Walters were engaged in a years of power struggle over the direction of the company they had built together, and had clashed bitterly over specific personnel decisions. The two nearly broke up but ultimately decided it was best to work together.
Born and raised in Pennsylvania, Minerd attended the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago and worked briefly at accountant Price Waterhouse. He then moved to Wall Street, doing stints at Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley as a bond trader, then working closely with Bob Diamond, later managing director of Barclays, while both were at Credit Suisse First Boston. . Minerd then retired to Southern California in his thirties.
In the late 1990s he met Walter, who ran an insurance and investment firm, Liberty Hampshire, which would become the foundation of Guggenheim Partners.
Guggenheim, known for its secretive culture, became a Wall Street powerhouse with not only Minerd but also Todd Boehly, now CEO of Eldridge Industries and co-owner of Chelsea Football Club in the UK and the Major League’s Los Angeles Dodgers. Baseball. Later, the firm would move into investment banking with star senior executive adviser, Alain Schwartzat the head of its Guggenheim Securities business.
Minerd was a fixture on the Los Angeles financial scene and a friend and sidekick to Michael Milken. Married to Eloy Mendez, he was a longtime resident of Santa Monica but had recently purchased two condominiums in Florida. Minerd was also a major benefactor of the Union Rescue Mission, the oldest and largest emergency shelter in Los Angeles, and he served on the board of trustees of the Hoover Institution, a conservative free-market think tank.
Bodybuilding was one of Minerd’s greatest passions. After moving to Venice Beach, Los Angeles, he joined Gold’s Gym, known as a mecca for weightlifters and the home of Arnold Schwarzenegger. At his peak, Minerd could press 495 pounds 20 times and competed in the Super Heavyweight division, according to a Bloomberg interview.
Scott was a master of fixed income – brilliant at deciphering intermediate and long-term changes in interest rates. He was a dear friend and supporter. I will miss him,” wrote Bill Gross, the founder of bond-focused investment house Pimco.
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