Hedge fund manager Patrick McCormack, a protégé of industry pioneer Julian Robertson, is shutting down his roughly $1.4 billion Tiger Consumer Management, according to a letter sent to investors.
 
McCormack said that shuttering the 15-year-old firm was a difficult decision but that now is the best time to do it after the firm's strong returns in early 2015, according to the letter seen by Reuters.
 
"Managing a fundamentally driven, long/short equity hedge fund is rewarding but demanding work. I have decided after nearly 15 years of doing so, at this stage of my life, I would like to spend more time with my family," he wrote.
 
Bloomberg first reported the news. McCormack's spokesman declined to comment.
 
The New York-based firm will shut down at the end of this month after gaining 4.6 percent last month, which left it up 3.9 percent for the year. At the end of the fourth quarter, the firm's biggest position, 182,098 shares, was in Internet streaming media company Netflix.
 
McCormack, who got his start working for Robertson's Tiger Management, was one of the original handful of so-called Tiger Cubs who received seed money from Robertson in 2000.
 
Running a hedge fund "takes a lot out of a person," said Don Steinbrugge, an industry consultant at Agecroft Partners. "He obviously made a lot of money over the years. What is surprising is how long he did it."