John Neff Makes Major Investment in UT
Investment Guru. Author. Mentor. Philanthropist. Many words might well describe John B. Neff (Bus ’55), but as a young high school graduate, success did not appear to be in his immediate grasp.
After working seven jobs in 15 months and enlisting for two years of active duty in the Navy, he finally decided to enroll at The University of Toledo. "It was handy, it had just been fully accredited, and it kind of looked like a college should," he recalls with a grin.
The transformation in his life was immediate, and his success came quickly. "I blossomed at TU, as they called it in those days. I really put it together finally." He graduated in 24 months, summa cum laude.
Armed with his new degree, he hitchhiked to New York City to interview on Wall Street. Though he didn’t land a job as a broker, one interviewer suggested first taking a job as a security analyst, "until you get the sound of authority in your voice." He took that advice, heading back to Cleveland where he found a job as a security analyst with National City Bank., he underwent another transformation, an "epiphany" of sorts. "Here, I found what I wanted to do," he explained.
For 31 years, Mr. Neff managed the Vanguard Windsor Fund, beating the market 22 of those years and eventually being named "one of the 10 most influential investors of the 20th century" by Barron’s Magazine. He shared his expertise in 1999 by co-authoring John Neff on Investing, a text still popular today among universities and the world of finance.
While sharing his investment know-how, he and his wife Lilli also began sharing their own personal financial success through major philanthropic gifts. The couple’s $500,000 gift established the Neff Scholars Jump Start Program, providing guidance and support for incoming UT business students. In 2003, another $1 million endowed gift created the John B. and Lillian Neff Trading Floor, an action-learning lab connecting UT students to the world stock exchanges.
In June, the Neffs made another personal investment of $4 million, the largest gift in the College’s history. Half will fund a faculty chair in UT’s department of finance, and the rest is a bequest gift to benefit the department’s programs and students in future years.
"This gift will provide us the opportunity to recruit an outstanding individual to complement the faculty," said Dr. Thomas Gutteridge, Dean of the College of Business Administration The bequest portion of the Neffs’ contribution, like their previous gifts, will serve as a "building block" for the College.
"It’s an important part of our strategy to be the business school of choice for students and for the business community," said Dr. Gutteridge, "helping to put our graduates a notch above the competition as they enter the job market."
Vern Snyder, UT vice president for Institutional Advancement, said the contribution demonstrates "the power of transformational giving, giving that takes the institution to the next level and that changes, in a tangible way, the learning experience for University of Toledo students."
For Mr. Neff, the major gift is simply a gesture of gratitude. "It was here that it all started for me," he said. "So in some small way, I’m giving something back."