By Jonathan Stempel
(Reuters) -Charlie Munger, the longtime vice chairman and second-in-command to Warren Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway, died on Tuesday morning.
Munger was 99, and would have turned 100 on Jan. 1. He died peacefully at a California hospital, Berkshire said. No cause was given.
"Berkshire Hathaway could not have been built to its present status without Charlie's inspiration, wisdom and participation," Buffett, Berkshire's chairman and chief executive, said in a statement.
Munger had been a Berkshire vice chairman since 1978, working closely with Buffett on allocating the Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate's capital, and being quick to tell him when he was making a mistake.
"It's a shock," said Thomas Russo, partner at Gardner Russo & Quinn in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, a longtime Berkshire shareholder. "It will leave a big void for investors who have modeled their thoughts, words and activities around Munger and his insights."
Investors said the death of Munger would be felt keenly by Buffett as well as the investing world at large.
"He was certainly one of the greatest investors, as a team with Buffett," said Rick Meckler, partner at Cherry Lane Investments in New Jersey. "I'm sure it is an enormous loss for Buffett personally."
Thomas Hayes, chairman of Great Hill Capital in New York, said that the "big change that Charlie brought to the value investing community was not just looking for what was cheap but looking for what was out of favor but high quality."
Still, the loss was unlikely to have a major impact on Berkshire's operations, investors said.
Two other vice chairmen, Greg Abel and Ajit Jain, have day-to-day oversight of Berkshire's dozens of operating businesses. Abel is expected to become chief executive once Buffett is no longer in charge.
"I wouldn't think Berkshire will look much different, apart from Buffett no longer being able to share ideas with Munger," said Russo. "Berkshire may be a little less fun without him."
Munger's death comes a week after Buffett himself donated about $866 million of Berkshire stock to four family charities, and told shareholders that he felt "good", as he moves nearer the sunset of his storied investing career.
Buffett also at the time issued a rare letter to shareholders, again pledging that more than 99% of his wealth would go to charity, with his children serving as executors of his will. He said Berkshire was "built to last" and would remain in good hands.
While Buffett has curbed his non-Berkshire responsibilities over the years, he has never publicly signaled a desire to step down, including after a prostate cancer diagnosis in 2012.
"At 93, I feel good but fully realize I am playing in extra innings," Buffett said in last week's letter.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; additional reporting by Lewis Krauskopf and Chibuike Oguh Editing by Megan Davies and Rosalba O'Brien)
