Templeton funds founder dies at 95

Sir John Templeton, founder of the Templeton funds and the Templeton Prize, died Tuesday in the Bahamas at age 95.

Templeton was known for buying stocks at points of maximum pessimism.

"He was a good investor, always looking for a bargain," says Michael Lipper, president of Lipper Advisory Services.

In 1939, Templeton bought $100 worth of every stock selling for $1 or less per share on the New York Stock Exchange. He made a killing.

"My best stock, Missouri Pacific Preferred, sold for $1/8, and I sold it for $5," Templeton told USA TODAY in 1997.

Templeton became one of the world's best-known figures, appearing on Wall $treet Week and drawing hundreds of investors to the Templeton Growth Fund's annual meetings.

He was equally well-known for his charitable work, for which he was knighted in 1987. His most famous endowment was the Templeton Prize, a (UK ...