A star portfolio manager at Integrity Viking Funds has passed away. The Knoxville News Sentinel and WVLT VolunteerTV report that Robert Loest, manager of the Integrity Growth & Income Fund, died on Wednesday at the age of 66.

The MFWire could not immediately reach an Integrity Viking official for comment on how Loest's duties are being handled.

The downtown Knoxville, Tennessee resident did a stint as a Navy officer and earned his doctorate in biology. He merged his own IPS Advisory firm with North Dakota-based Integrity Mutual Funds in 2005, staying on to manage the Growth & Income Fund. (Then in 2009 Integrity, in turn, sold its mutual fund business to Corridor Investors, which merged Integrity's business with that of Viking Fund Management.) Loest's fund boasts $27.3 million in assets.

Loest regularly appeared on CNBC and in other media outlets, and he was a frequent speaker on the advisor and financial planning conference circuits. He also spoke out on numerous non-investing issues, such as bicycling (as an advocate of bike lanes in Knoxville). Fundsters interested in finding out more about Loest's life should read Jesse Fox Mayshark's "Remembering Robert Loest" column in the Knoxville Metro Pulse.

It appears that Loest's death was rather sudden. The Metro Pulse blog reported on Tuesday that Loest suffered "a severe heart attack on Friday and that recovery appears unlikely." 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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