John Templeton, a pioneer in the mutual fund industry, as well as an investor and philanthropist, died today in the Bahamas at age 95, according to the John Templeton Foundation website.
Mr. Templeton, who was born in Winchester, Tenn., in 1912 and was a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, began his career on Wall Street in 1937 and went on to create several tremendously successful funds.
He sold his group of funds to Franklin Resources Inc. of San Mateo, Calif., in 1992 for $440 million.
The flagship fund, the Templeton Growth Fund, established in 1954, was one of the first mutual funds that invested globally.
A devout Presbyterian, Mr. Templeton established the 1-million-pound Templeton Prize in 1991 to expand knowledge of spiritual topics.
In 1987, the same year he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his philanthropic accomplishments, he established the Conshohocken, Pa.-based John Templeton Foundation to fund projects that link religion and science.
The foundation has an estimated endowment of $1.5 billion and awards some $70 million in annual grants, according to its website.
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