Rex Sinquefield, who 24 years ago co-founded
Dimensional Fund Advisors and served as its co-chair and chairman of
investment policy, will retire at the end of the year, the fund company
announced.
Sinquefield, an iconic and sometimes
outspoken proponent of passive investment and efficient market theory,
will retire to his farm in Missouri and pursue a variety of interests,
including the creation of an economic think tank, Dimensional Fund
Advisors said.
Sinquefield's wife, Jeanne, who has supervised the
company's trading operation since 1983, will also retire at the end of
the year, the company announced.
Rex Sinquefield founded Dimensional in 1981 with
David Booth with the aim of applying academic research to investment
management. Much of DFA's work is tied to research conducted at the
University of Chicago, where Booth and Sinquefield attended graduate
school. The underpinnings of the company's philosophy include a belief
in efficient markets and passive investment.
When it comes to the passive vs. active schools of
investment theory, in fact, both Booth and Sinquefield have been blunt
about their disregard for active management, market timing, stock
picking and other similar endeavors. Sinquefield once called active
management a form of "investment pornography."
DFA has about $70 billion under management for more
than 300 clients, including high-net-worth investors through
professional financial advisors, the company says. Its board members
and consultants include Eugene Fama of the University of Chicago, Nobel
Laureates Myron Scholes and Robert Merton, Kenneth French of Dartmouth
College and Robert Ibbotson of Yale University.
Sinquefield will remain a board member and consultant to the company after his retirement, according to DFA.
"Rex and Jeanne are good friends and dear colleagues
whose talents will remain an important resource for years to come,"
said Booth, DFA's co-chair and chief investment officer.