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Just over a year ago, Ray Dalio, the founder of hedge-fund giant Bridgewater Associates, took to Twitter TWTR, -0.46% to hail former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker as “the greatest man” he knows.
Volcker, who waged a war on inflation in the 1980s and had a second career pushing Wall Street reform, passed away Sunday at the age of 92.
‘Even after he knew that he was approaching his end, when we would talk, he never worried about himself as much as he worried about the well-being of our country and those who served it.’
Dalio took the opportunity of Volcker’s passing to again share his appreciation of the ”greatest American hero” whom he hopes will help us remember what heroes look like.
“For the nearly 50 years that I watched him or knew him personally, I found Paul to be a man of unwavering character and capability who put working in the service of our country above all else,” Dalio wrote in a LinkedIn post, “always putting doing the right and difficult things ahead of the expedient and partisan things.”
He said he watched Volcker, under extreme pressure and criticism, “break the back of inflation” at a time when the U.S. economy’s survival was at stake.
“At the time, he was the most powerful man in the world because, although the U.S. president could push the nuclear button, Volcker controlled how much money and credit there was in the world, which had a much bigger impact than anything else at the time,” Dalio explained in his post.
He then recalled how Volcker was tapped to oversee the recovery of Holocaust victim assets from Swiss banks in 1987 because the world considered him “the most capable and least biased person” to handle the contentious issue.
“I knew him personally as a man who had great wisdom, humility, and classic heroism in which he sacrificed his well-being for the well-being of others,” Dalio recalled. “Even after he knew that he was approaching his end, when we would talk, he never worried about himself as much as he worried about the well-being of our country and those who served it.”
Dalio posted this video discussion from back in February where he asked Volcker to pass along his most important principles. “When watching it, keep in mind that he then knew that his time was limited,” he said:
