One of the creators of the Side Fund and an architect of Neuberger Berman's [profile] mutual fund business died last month.

Bloomberg and the New York Times both published obituaries for "Stan the Man", Stanley Egener, who died on May 30 from complications related to Alzheimer's disease.

"He was a visionary in the mutual fund business," Alex Samuelson, a spokesman for Neuberger, tells MFWire.

In 1972 Egener, Arthur Scherl, and Richard Bassuk (of Scherl, Egener & Bassuk) created the Side Fund for tax-deferred retirement savings. The Fund was later rebranded as the Partners Fund when acquired by Neuberger. Egener joined Neuberger in 1975. In 1982 he rose to president of Neuberger Berman Management, the mutual fund division, a position he held until retiring in 1999. He also served as president of the No-Load Mutual Fund Association (now called the Mutual Fund Education Alliance [MFEA]) from 1984 to 1988.

Egener famously appeared in a Neuberger TV commercial in 1997. In the ad, Egener drove an Aston Martin on a mountain road and declined a racing challenge from a Ferrari driver, a driver who then gets into an accident after speeding off. And he also appeared in a Neuberger print ad campaign touting the fact that Neuberger's leaders ate their own mutual fund cooking, with more than $100 million of their own money in their funds.

A native of the Bronx, Egener was an alumnus of New York City's Hunter College and spent two years as a U.S. Navy aviator on the USS Intrepid (the carrier since turned into a floating museum now docked on the west side of Manhattan). His mutual fund career began at Dreyfus (now part of BNY Mellon) in 1960, then Oppenheimer & Co four years later.

The Times' obituary of Egener describes him as "a maverick both professionally and personally", "an exceptional athlete who played semi-pro football, golf, and tennis ... [who] was also an accomplished downhill skier."

Egener is survived by his brother George, his sons Mark and Todd, five grandchildren, and his companion Aline DeBray. He was also married twice, to the former Mary Hutchins and later to Linda Hartzer.

Egener's family is directing contributions to the Taub Alzheimer's Disease Research Institute in New York City. 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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