William J. Ruane

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William J. Ruane (b. October 24, 1925, Chicago, - October 4, 2005, New York City), was a Wall Street investment manager and philanthropist. He graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1945 with a degree in electrical engineering and from Harvard Business School in 1949. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy and was on his way to Japan when World War II ended.

Ruane met Warren Buffett at an investment seminar with value investing guru Benjamin Graham; he and Buffett became lifelong friends, and Buffett advised associates to invest with Ruane. They both employed Graham's value investing techniques. Ruane founded his own investment firm, Ruane Cunniff, with partner Rick Cunniff in 1970, the same year they launched their flagship Sequoia Fund. Their fund has routinely outperformed the Standard & Poor's 500 index and has been one of the top performing mutual funds.

Ruane's firm was renamed Ruane, Cunniff, and Goldfarb in 2004, when Robert Goldfarb became president.

In 1992 he adopted a block in Harlem, committed to make it a better place, renovating buildings and establishing clinics and community service programs. Ruane gave every child on the block a scholarship to a Catholic school. He also funded programs at public schools and schools on Indian reservations, and contributed to mental health causes.

He died at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan.