James Stowers American Century

American Century founder Jim Stowers formally relinquished control of the Kansas City-based mutual fund firm this week, company spokesperson Chris Doyle confirmed to The MFWire.

The 86-year-old Stowers turned over trusteeship of a trust holding voting rights to American Century co-chair Dick Brown on Tuesday. (Though the trust holds less than a majority interest in the firm, under the '40 Act, any voting block that exceeds 25 percent is presumed to represent control.)

Stowers was discharged Thursday from a rehabilitation center in California after suffering injuries from a fall last month.

The shift in control was first reported by The Kansas City Star.

"Jim has a long-standing succession plan," Doyle told The MFWire on Friday. "Given his condition, his succession plan was activated, which called for the trusteeship to shift from him to Dick."

Brown has been co-chair for three years and on the board for 12.

Stowers, who turned 86 last month, started the company, originally named Twentieth Century Investments, in 1958.

In 1994, following a bout with cancer, Stowers founded the Stowers Institute for Medical Research along with his wife and fellow cancer survivor, Virginia. The $2 billion biomedical research institute supports research surrounding the genes and proteins that control the fundamental processes of living cells in an effort to combat cancer.

Last December, Stowers retired from his role on American Century's fund board. 

Edited by: InvestmentWires Staff, 


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