My favorite under-the-radar story of an independent thinking, fundamental, concentrated investor is that of Joe Rosenfield. Rosenfield was a retired executive and friend of Warren Buffett’s when he took over the management of the endowment at tiny Grinnell College in Iowa. He turned the endowment into one of the largest in the nation. I first heard of this story through Jason Zweig’s great article “The Best Investor You’ve Never Heard of.”

Joe Rosenfield Grew Grinnell College’s Endowment Dramatically Over 30 Years

Joe Rosenfield ignored most conventional wisdom about investing and grew $11 million to over $1 billion over the course of about 30 years, starting in the mid ‘60s. Here’s the crazy part – over the course of that time, he made around six investments and basically never sold. The result? He merely turned Grinnell College into an institution with a larger endowment than top schools like Carnegie Mellon or Georgetown.

“If you like a stock, you’ve got to be prepared to hold it and do nothing.” – Joseph Rosenfield

Rosenfield was an alumni of Grinnell and had retired as Chairman of Younkers Department Store (Iowa folks know what I’m talking about) at age 65. Luckily for them, he started devoting more time to the investment board.

“Our job is the make this institution financially impregnable"

The Grinnell strategy - look for “good common stocks we could own for the long term.” They bought 300 shares of Berkshire Hathaway after meeting Buffett in 1967. A year later, Buffett himself joined the board. They invested in famed Grinnell dropout Robert Noyce, who would become known as the Mayor of Silicon Valley. A 10% position in Noyce's company, NM Electronics, would later payoff in a massive way when it became Intel. Grinnell also acquired a private business, a TV station bought at 2 ½ times revenue. From ‘78-’81 they put ⅓ of the endowment’s nut into the Sequoia Fund, at Buffett’s suggestion. Famously, Sequoia outperformed the S&P 500 almost 3% annualized between the late ‘70s and late ‘90s.

The rules that Rosenfield followed –

• Investment decisions are made in front of a committee
• Don’t spread your bets, double down
• Take the long view
• Wealth is a means to an end, not an end in itself

“I just wanted to do some good with the money.”

Rosenfield died in 2000. A 3% owner of the Chicago Cubs, he missed his chance to see them win another World Series. Being born in 1904, he had been alive for their last win. His life’s work was accomplished at Grinnell though.

Not a bad “2nd act,” for a guy in retirement.

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