Career Path
He moved back to his hometown that year to become a securities analyst in the trust department at National Bank of Detroit. He returned to New York in 1958 to work as an analyst, and eventually as a vice president, at General American Investors, a closed-end investment trust, and went to A.G. Becker & Co. four years later, where he remained until founding his hedge fund.
Wilson’s career as an investor was almost tripped up in 1978 by what Forbes magazine described as “the most catastrophic short play in modern times.” In May of that year, he created a short position of 200,000 shares of Resorts International at an average price of $15 each, according to a 1979 account in Forbes. The company had just opened the first gambling casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and Wilson was betting the stock would fall. Instead, the shares rose to $20.
“I’m getting crucified, but I may short more,” Wilson said, according to Forbes. He then set out on a six-month vacation to Europe, Asia and Australia.
The shares continued to rise and by September, Wilson was in Taipei and they reached $190. By then he was covering his short position, buying back the stock at appreciated levels, costing him millions of dollars in losses.
Wilson served as chairman of the New York City Opera and on the boards of the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Metropolitan Opera.
He was divorced from his wife, Marilyn, for about 35 years and had no children.