WALTER SCHLOSS Obituary

Richard Seff. I so enjoyed my brief talks with Walter Schloss when I would visit his son Edwin at his office. Clearly an original thinker, Mr. Schloss had humor and warmth, both qualities inherited by his son, who continues to offer generous friendship, and inherent investment sense.

Walter Schloss is the ultimate zen investor. Glad to have found his writings and thoughts

Dear Edgar, So sorry to read of your father's passing. Please accept my sincere condolences.Your father was an admired and important friend of my family for many years, Warm regards, Joan Rosen Kemler

Walter Schloss was an icon in the investing world along with his partner Edwin.

They were not only father and son, they were the best of friends.

I had the great pleasure of going to many Yankee games with them and to hear the two speak, it was like one person.

Walter had a tremendous knowledge of the history of the franchise. He saw the great play of Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle, Berra, Munson, Guidry, Mattingly, Jeter and all of their teammates.

Walter listened on the radio or watched on television 26 of the 27 World Series that the Yankees won.

Walter would say. "I don't really recall the 1943 World Series. We were at war, I was in the Army and baseball did not seem so important at that time".

His favorite player was Ruth, but his most memorable moment came when he attended the 1934 All-Star game at the Polo Grounds when Carl Hubbell of the Giants struck out 5 consecutive Hall of Famers.

Walter would describe it on many occasions, yet it was fun to see him light up and say: "He stuck out Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx , Al Simmons, and Joe Cronin with that screwball ".

In 1999 we attended the fourth and final game of the World Series at Yankee Stadium when the Yanks swept the Braves. Walter thanked me repeatedly and at the game said the last sweep he was at was the 1938 World Series vs. the Reds. He remembered details of that series and all the other great moments like they happened yesterday.

Our last game was at the new Yankee Stadium. "Look at the size of this place it is " ,said Walter.
Then he paused and both Edwin and Walter chirped as one "Magnificent".

Magnificent, a fine word to describe the life and times of Walter Schloss.

My deepest sympathy goes out to the entire Schloss family at this time of sorrow.

Thank you, Big Walt. Your example of integrity and independence has been an inspiration for me through difficult times. I can't thank you enough.

My deepest condolences to the Schloss family and all his longtime friends and followers. I greatly admired Mr. Schloss and I wrote the following eulogy for Mr. Schloss:

America lost an investing icon over the weekend; although few individuals outside the small fraternity of Graham and Doddsville are privy to the unique brilliance which Walter Schloss possessed. That fact is almost as sad as his passing.

The genius of Mr. Schloss was rooted in simplicity and tempered with patience. But above all, his stunning success was a direct result of his fundamental sense of value and his practice of self-reliance. You see, Schloss never relied on anyone but himself to achieve his stellar results. He never cared what others were buying and he never lost heart if the overall market outperformed his holdings in the short term. In the long term, he waxed the overall market for decades and left virtually every other investment and fund manager in his wake. He recorded an incredible 16% annual compound average over nearly a 40-year period for his clients, and that stellar performance was recorded after Schloss had deducted his fees.

Mr. Schloss received the only break he needed when Benjamin Graham hired him to work at Graham-Newman as a security analyst. Earlier in his life, Schloss had taken courses offered by Graham and had studied his investment classic, "Security Analysis." Although Schloss never earned a college degree, he developed an adept understanding of value investing, fully absorbing the concepts which were laid out by his mentor.

Schloss never lost his reverence for Benjamin Graham, either. When he conducted interviews in the latter part of his life he always referred to his mentor as Mr. Graham. He was able to relate points which Graham had made to him decades before as if the conversation had occurred yesterday. Schloss not only learned Graham's lessons about value investing he applied them on a daily basis with unwavering confidence.

Many of my readers are probably aware of my extreme admiration for Walter Schloss. I have modeled his philosophy in developing a successful investment strategy. Such concepts as evaluating the intrinsic value of a company by analyzing the tangible equity of a business come directly from the Schloss playbook. In his early days Schloss learned that a margin of safety existed in the form of tangible assets even when the earnings of a company appeared to be in steady decline. Non-tangible assets were referred to in that time as "water on the balance sheet" and Schloss understood that substance was generally safer than water.

Schloss rarely bought an equity unless it traded at a substantial discount to its tangible book value and he rarely purchased equities which were not being discarded by the market. He scoured the list of 52-week lows and discerned which companies were being discarded without merit. The idea that the market was always efficient was pure balderdash in the eyes of Schloss and his bread and butter was preying upon the mistakes of reactionary investors. The simple, albeit overused phrase, "buy low, sell high," was exactly what made Schloss an investing legend.

I believe that the greatest complement which could be paid to Mr. Schloss would be a simple one which in the words of Benjamin Graham would read something like this: Walter knew the difference between investment and speculation and he invariably chose investment rather than speculation in the best interest of his clients.

Rest well Mr. Schloss and thank you for your contribution to my life!


John Emerson, Gurufocus Columnist

Rest in peace , Mr. Schloss.

Rest in peace, kind Sir.

Suzanne McDonnell Long