James E. Stowers Jr., Mutual-Fund Pioneer and Cancer Crusader, Dies at 90; Founder of American Century Investments Was a Noted Philanthropist

James E. Stowers Jr., Mutual-Fund Pioneer and Cancer Crusader, Dies at 90
Founder of American Century Investments Was a Noted Philanthropist
STEPHEN MILLER
March 18, 2014 7:21 p.m. ET
James E. Stowers Jr. , who turned a small six-figure investment into one of the nation’s largest mutual-fund companies before turning his focus to philanthropy, died Monday at age 90.
A lifelong resident of Kansas City, Mo., Mr. Stowers was known to mutual-fund associates as “the eternal bull” for his faith in markets. Privately held American Century Investments, the company Mr. Stowers founded in 1958, has grown into a fund giant with about $141 billion under management, the company said.

James E. Stowers Jr. in 2007. The Kansas City Star/Associated Press
Mr. Stowers also had a faith in science: He and his wife, Virginia, were stricken with cancer and recovered with treatment, contributing to the decision to found the Stowers Institute for Medical Research. The Stowers’ gifts to the foundation over the years have totaled more than $2 billion, officials there say.
More than 550 researchers and support staff work at its Kansas City laboratories on biomedical research.
“Creating new knowledge was the most powerful contribution he could offer mankind,” said Richard W. Brown, chairman of American Century Investments and the Stowers Institute for Medical Research.
Jim Stowers, as he was known to all, was the son and grandson of physicians. He served as a gunnery instructor and fighter pilot during World War II, according to a biography released by the Stowers Institute.
He studied medicine at the University of Missouri but decided against becoming a doctor, in part, he said, at the insistence of Virginia—his future wife and a nurse who refused to marry a physician. In addition to his wife, Mr. Stowers is survived by three children. A daughter died in 2010.
In the mid-1950s, Mr. Stowers worked for a local investment firm and set himself up as a mutual-fund broker. He then started his own fund using about $100,000 from around two dozen local investors.
Two decades later, he developed a computer algorithm for selecting stocks for his fund portfolio. American Century—originally Twentieth Century Investors—was a highflying fund group in the 1980s and 1990s.
Money magazine put him on the cover of an issue in 1981 touting the achievement of a 467% return over five years in a Twentieth Century growth-focused fund.
In 2005, Mr. Stowers announced he was considering switching his support from the Stowers Institute to Harvard University because the Missouri legislature was considering a ban on stem-cell research. Missouri voters narrowly passed the Missouri Stem Cell Research & Cures Initiative in 2006, allowing stem-cell research to continue.
Mr. Stowers was a torch-bearer for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
“It was more exciting than I’d ever dreamed,” Mr. Stowers told the Associated Press.