Michael H. Steinhardt (born December 7, 1940) is an American investor, hedge fund manager, and philanthropist. In 1967, he founded a hedge fund, Steinhardt Partners, that averaged an annualized return for its clients of 24.5% from 1967 to 1995. His fund lost 1/3 of its value in the 1994 bond market crisis. In 1995, after finishing up 25%, he closed his fund stating, "I thought there must be something more virtuous, more ennobling to do with one's life than make rich people richer," before making a 2004 comeback to head WisdomTree Investments, a fund with nearly US$64 billion in assets under management.