OBITUARY: John Bogle, Vanguard founder and low-cost investing pioneer
Bogle, the author of The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism, had one great message, about lowering fees, ‘and he kept hammering away at it’
John Bogle, whose family’s struggles during the Great Depression led him to pioneer low-cost investing and to found Vanguard Group, now the world’s biggest mutual fund firm, died on Wednesday at 89, Vanguard said. Bogle had been in frail health for years, surviving at least six heart attacks and receiving a heart transplant in 1996. The cause of death was cancer, according to Bogle’s assistant Michael Nolan. Despite ill-health, Bogle was a vital presence through his later years as he pressed for reforms in corporate governance and fund administration. He often mixed sharp rhetoric with a wry sense of humor and established a reputation as a curmudgeon in his industry, at times at odds with Vanguard executives who eventually stripped him of much of his power within the organisation. Still Bogle, known widely as Jack, kept deep professional friendships and maintained a loyal following through his books and public speaking appearances. Some termed themselves “Bogleheads” in his honour a...
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