Greatest Investor: Peter Lynch

Lynch coined some popular mantras of modern investing strategies. His most famous principle is: 'Invest in what you know,' popularising the economic concept of 'local knowledge.'

Before joining Fidelity as a stock analyst, Lynch served in the United States Army for a couple of years and studied at Boston College and at the Wharton School of the University of Philadelphia.

He was born on January 19, 1944. Lynch was hired as an intern with Fidelity Investments in 1966. Lynch's greatest successes occurred in a vast array of stocks, including Fannie Mae, Ford, Philip Morris, MCI, Volvo, General Electric, General Public Utilities, Student Loan Marketing, Kemper, and Loews.

Lynch has written (with co-author John Rothchild) three essays on investing, including One Up on Wall Street, Beating the Street, and Learn to Earn. The last one was written for teenagers. Lynch also wrote a series of investment articles for Worth magazine.

Currently Lynch is concentrating on philanthropy. The Lynch Foundation, which had $74 million in assets in 2003, supports education, religious organisations, cultural and historic organisations, hospitals and medical research.