THE NUMBERS: Estimates of C. Frederick Taylor’s wealth vary widely. Along with founding members David Gelbaum and Andrew Shechtel, the trio first gained national attention about nine years ago when a Bloomberg report said the hedge fund managers had “secretly directed one of the largest pools of philanthropic capital for years,” one it estimated at more than $13B.
RARE SIGHTINGS: There’s been next to no mention of the firm or its founders since the Bloomberg report, with the exception of the Business Journal’s reports on Taylor’s real estate investments in Irvine. Sources familiar with the founders tell the Business Journal that prior estimates of Taylor’s wealth are likely well on the low side, giving the Business Journal confidence to boost his estimate by $800M dollars this year.
THE MENTOR: The partners are disciples of South Orange County resident and “Man for All Markets” by Edward O. Thorp, founder of one of the world’s first quantitative hedge funds, Princeton Newport Partners, in 1969. Thorp told Businessweek that the men opened a hedge fund in 1989 and practiced a form of statistical arbitrage, seeking to profit from the tendency of recently fallen stocks to rise, and the recently risen to fall.
SALES: TGS Management sold two office buildings in Irvine a year ago for $60M to Bridge Industrial.
PHILANTHROPY: In 2020, co-founded Irvine-based Sequoia Climate Foundation, which says it has given $926M in 330 grants to support major climate initiatives. He’s been reported to be a major supporter of the Landmine Survivors Network and other human rights causes. Taylor is a major benefactor and was a board member of Tarbut V’Torah Community Day School in Irvine, a Jewish school founded by late businessman and Holocaust survivor Irving “Papa” Gelman, on land donated by the Samueli Foundation.
