Who

The original "Wizard of Wall Street," Robertson was one of Wall Street's highest rollers before his financial empire unraveled in the late '90s.

Backstory

A North Carolina native, Robertson attended UNC and served in the Navy before getting his start at Kidder Peabody. He eventually became one of the firm's top producing brokers, and in 1980 he launched the original Tiger Management Corp. with $8 million in seed capital. By the '90s, he was one of the most influential hedge fund managers in the industry; his portfolio peaked in 1997 when assets under management totaled $22 billion and the fund posted a 56 percent annual return. But Robertson, who advocated the sort of "global macro" strategies deployed by George Soros and others, elected to sit out the late '90s tech stock craze, and his funds withered as he sat out the boom years. By late 1999, his fund was down to just $7 billion and he eventually decided to liquidate his famed fund in March 2000, just a few months, ironically, before the tech bubble burst.

Currently

Although he's less of a presence these days, Robertson's power is still felt through the myriad emerging hedge fund managers he's mentored and backed, including Ospraie's Dwight Anderson, Stephen Mandel Jr., and Chase Coleman. Another Robertson protégé, Mark Yusko, who used to manage money for the University of North Carolina, has even been given the right to use the name Tiger in launching Tiger Select Fund Management, an array of fund of offshore hedge fund offerings. One other notable hedge funder he's helped get started is Louis Bacon: Robertson's sister was Bacon's step-mom.

Keeping score

Robertson's focus on value-oriented investments helped him profit handsomely when the market retreated in the early '00s. Robertson's net worth doubled between 2003 and 2005 and he's now worth $1.8 billion, according to Forbes.

Pet cause

Robertson actively campaigns against global warming. (He's close to Al Gore, not surprisingly.) The North Carolina native also backs scholarships at Duke and UNC that provide four years of full tuition for 36 students each year.

Personal

Robertson is married to Josie, after whom the Josie Robertson Plaza at Lincoln Center is named. They have three adult sons and live in Alice Tully's old apartment on Central Park South, in the same building as Candice Bergen and Marshall Rose. They have also have a home in Locust Valley, NY, and spend vacations in New Zealand where Robertson owns two exclusive golf resorts, Kauri Cliffs and Cape Kidnappers.