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John J.F. Sherrerd, Investment Firm Co-Founder and Philanthropist, Dies at 78. John J.F. Sherrerd, investment manager and philanthropist, died Wednesday, April 9 at his home in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania at the age of 78. The cause of death was a brain tumor. The son of William D. Sherrerd, Jr. and Isabel Foulkrod Sherrerd, he was born on March 9, 1930, in Philadelphia. Mr. Sherrerd attended Episcopal Academy in Merion, Pennsylvania and graduated from the Hill School in Pottstown in 1948. He received a B.A. in Economics from Princeton University in 1952 and an M.B.A. in Finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1956. After Princeton, he received a commission in the U.S. Army and served as a First Lieutenant in an Artillery unit in the Korean War. After Wharton, Mr. Sherrerd was recruited to Drexel & Co. in Philadelphia by Paul F. Miller, Jr., who would become his lifelong business partner. Mr. Sherrerd was made a partner of Drexel in 1963, and then a Vice President and Director of its successor firm, Drexel Harriman Ripley, Inc. in 1966. He became the Manager of Institutional Research in 1967. In 1969, he left Drexel to become a founding partner of Miller, Anderson and Sherrerd, a Philadelphia-based investment management firm for large institutional clients. The firm was one of the first “boutique” firms managing pension and endowment funds, services that had been provided by banks and insurance companies until that time. Miller, Anderson & Sherrerd had $35 billion in assets under management when it was acquired by Morgan Stanley in 1996. Mr. Sherrerd identified himself as a “contrarian” investor, looking for companies he considered well managed and financially sound “that nobody else wants.” He often bought stock in a company when it was receiving negative attention in the press. His investment acumen was highly regarded and sought after by the many organizations with which he was involved. Mr. Sherrerd was an active volunteer and philanthropist, though most of his gifts were made anonymously and in honor of others. He was devoted to his alma mater, Princeton, and received numerous awards for his generosity and distinguished service to the University. He was a Trustee Emeritus and one of the very few trustees who have served on Princeton’s board for two consecutive ten-year terms as a Charter Trustee. He was vice chair of the Executive Committee of the board from 1997 to 2000. Mr. Sherrerd was an active fundraiser for Princeton for decades and was particularly skilled at making compelling and persuasive solicitations for large gifts. He was a longtime member of the national Annual Giving Committee and a co-chair of the Development Leadership Committee. He played significant leadership roles in the University’s last three capital campaigns, including co-chairing the Anniversary Campaign for Princeton from 1995 to 2000. He was a director of the Princeton Investment Company, known as PRINCO, from 1987 to 1997. He was also a trustee of the Robertson Foundation of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton from 1982 to 2007 and was the original chair of its Investment Committee, serving from 1978 to 2007. Mr. Sherrerd was a loyal member of Princeton’s Class of 1952 and never missed a reunion, attending for fifty-five consecutive years from 1953 to 2007. His license plate read “Jay 52.” An avid sports fan, most particularly devoted to Princeton’s lacrosse teams, he was instrumental in funding the stadium in which they play, and named it The Class of 1952 Stadium. He often spoke about how happy it made him to see his class commemorated. Mr. Sherrerd was also a passionate supporter of the Gesu School in Philadelphia, an independent Catholic school that provides a challenging, yet nurturing academic environment for 450 children in North Philadelphia’s inner-city. He has been a trustee since 1997 and chaired its Investment Committee from 1999 to 2003. He co-chaired the school’s Building for Tomorrow Capital Campaign from 2005 to 2007. Gesu’s Sherrerd Gymnasium was dedicated in his honor last spring. Mr. Sherrerd’s enthusiasm for the mission of the Gesu School stemmed from his conviction that excellent education should be available to anyone willing to work hard and strive for academic and personal success. It was this belief that led him to be a forceful advocate behind Princeton’s decision in 2001 to eliminate loans from financial aid packages, a role he looked back on with great pride. Starting with the Class of 2005, all Princeton students are able to graduate debt-free and can base their career choices more on their aspirations than their financial obligations. Mr. Sherrerd served as a co-chair of Episcopal Academy’s current capital campaign from 2005 until his death. He was a member of the Board of Overseers at the Wharton School from 1998 to 2000, the chairman of Smith College’s Investment Committee from 1977 to 2000 and a trustee of the Shipley School in Bryn Mawr from 1970 to 1984. His immediate survivors are his son, Jay F. Sherrerd of Hood River, Oregon, his daughters, Anne C. Sherrerd of Riverside, Connecticut and Susan M. Sherrerd of Piedmont, California, his sister, Eve S. Bogle of Bryn Mawr, and six grandchildren. He was predeceased in 2005 by his wife, Kathleen Compton Sherrerd, whom he married in 1956, as well as by his parents and his brother, William D. Sherrerd III. A memorial service will be held at the Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church, 629 Montgomery Avenue, Bryn Mawr on Saturday, April 19 at 10:00am. Contributions in his memory may be made to the John J.F. Sherrerd Memorial Scholarship Fund, Gesu School, 1700 West Thompson Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19121 or to Princeton Annual Giving, P.O. Box 5357, Princeton, New Jersey 08543

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John J.F. Sherrerd

March 9, 1930 - April 9, 2008