Nils Taube, 1928 - 2008

Who died after suffering a stroke at the age of 79, was probably the longest-serving fund manager operating in the City. He was certainly one of its most successful investors, having returned more than 15pc a year in two funds he ran continuously between 1969 and 2006.

Having fled Soviet-occupied Estonia in 1940, Mr Taube began his investment career after he arrived in London in 1946 and took up a position at the stockbroker Kitcat & Aitken. He rose to senior partner in 1975 and later became the investment adviser to Lord Rothschild.

Having enjoyed a ringside seat at the City's booms, busts and crises over more than six decades, Mr Taube continued to derive great pleasure from investment until the end of his life. In 2007, at the age of 78, he set up Nils Taube Investments, a boutique fund manager, taking big positions in gold ahead of the precious metal's recent surge.

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph last year, he said : "Doing what we're doing gives us a lot of amusement. It's like being paid for doing the crossword."

A legendary market timer, Mr Taube invested his last £2,000 in shares for his children at the bottom of the 1974 market slump and successfully predicted the 1987 stock market crash.