Scott Minerd

(Bloomberg) -- Scott Minerd, the Guggenheim Partners chief investment officer who was regarded as one of the bond kings of the past decades, has died.

“If I was ever going to say ‘no’ to him, it would be by phone,” Guggenheim Executive Chairman Alan Schwartz said at the time about Minerd and his physically intimidating appearance. At his peak, the 300-pound Minerd could bench-press 495 pounds 20 times and even competed in the Super Heavyweight and over-40 divisions at Los Angeles bodybuilding championships. It was the Wild West — pick up a telephone and call a company and ask them if you could issue a bond for them.” He switched to investing, which paid better, and climbed Wall Street’s ranks for the better part of a decade. “Guggenheim’s investment professionals, in tribute to Scott, will continue every day to use the processes and procedures Scott helped build to manage Guggenheim’s client portfolios.” The son of an insurance salesman, Minerd grew up in southwestern Pennsylvania on land his family settled before the Revolutionary War.