Jim Simons, the pioneering billionaire in quantitative investing who produced staggering returns, passes away at the age of 86.

Jim Simons, a mathematician who established the most prosperous quantitative hedge fund in history, passed suddenly in New York City on Friday, according to a statement from his organization on its website.

At Renaissance Technologies, Simons pioneered the use of mathematical models and computers to make investment decisions, leaving a record that equaled that of industry titans like Warren Buffett and George Soros. According to Gregory Zuckerman’s book “The Man Who Solved the Market,” his flagship Medallion Fund saw yearly returns of 66% from 1988 to 2018.

He served as a codebreaker for American intelligence during the Vietnam War, keeping an eye on the Soviet Union and breaking through Russian code.

Simons graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1958 with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and, at the age of 23, from the University of California, Berkeley with a doctorate in the same field. The quant expert left academics to try his hand at trading, and in 1978, at the age of forty, he created Renaissance.

In contrast to the majority of investors, who assess a company’s value by looking at its sales, earnings, and profit margins, Simons only depended on an automated trading system to capitalize on trading patterns and market inefficiencies.

In a 2016 CNBC interview, Simons stated, “I have no opinion on any stocks.

Between 1988 and 2018, his Medallion Fund generated trading gains of over $100 billion, with an annualized return of 39% after costs. Only in 2005 did Simons permit his staff members to make investments in the fund, which had been blocked to new contributions since 1993.

Wall Street has seen a rise in the use of quantitative tactics based on trend-following models since Simons transformed trading beginning in the 1980s. A JPMorgan estimate states that more than 20% of equities assets are currently made up of quant funds.

According to Forbes, Simons’ estimated net worth at the time of his death was $31.4 billion.

The quant guru’s foundation stated that his mathematical discoveries have a significant impact on subjects including string theory, topology, and condensed matter physics.

Since founding the Simons Foundation in 1994, Simons and his spouse have donated billions of dollars to charitable initiatives, particularly those that promote science and math education.

Until the end of his life, he actively participated in the foundation’s activity. His spouse, three kids, five grandkids, and a great-grandchild all survive Simons.