Eugene Sit: He fled Communist China, became noted figure in finance

Eugene Sit, who immigrated from China as a penniless kid in 1947 and became a top-flight investment manager and philanthropist in Minneapolis, died Tuesday night after a four-month struggle with pancreatic cancer. He was 69.

"He had the opportunity to live the American dream," said his son, Roger, 46, chief executive of Sit Investment Associates. "He was driven by his love of career and the investment business. He was patriotic."

Roger Sit called his father a "socialistic capitalist."

"My parents were immigrants and they started working young and they didn't have a lot," he said. "They could relate to people who have very little. They helped the homeless and the food shelters."

Sit was born to land-owning parents in southern China. Sit and his brother came to America just ahead of the Communist revolution that swept China in 1949 and outlawed private property. Sit's father died penniless in the United States, leaving Gene in the care of working-class relatives in Arkansas.

Sit won an academic scholarship to DePaul University in Chicago. He worked for several pension funds before joining IDS Financial in 1968, where he helped start a couple of flagship stock funds.

Sit pioneered the firm's investments in Asia when he bought Sony stock in Japan in 1969. At IDS (now Ameriprise Financial), he was an early buyer of Wal-Mart, Cisco Systems and other companies that became huge successes.

"In 1979, nobody in China had any money," Sit recalled in a 2006 interview. "Now they own billions of U.S. debt. And I've been outbid at art auctions by Chinese! They have a lot of money."

A good stock picker

Sit left a job as chief investment officer of IDS in 1981 to start Sit Investment. He pooled $1 million -- most of it his own money -- to start his own company at the bottom of the stock-market cycle. Today, the 75-person firm manages $8 billion for individuals and institutions. He proved that a well-run boutique firm with competitive returns and personalized service could compete with the giant consolidators of the financial services industry.

"Gene had a terrific reputation, as kind of a gunslinger at IDS, or at least as an aggressive growth-stock investor, and he went early to international investing in Japan and China," recalled Peter Mitchelson, the retired vice chairman of Sit. "He made a mark on the world.

"Gene liked money. We all do in this business. The thing that really impressed me was that Gene also always wanted to do the right thing, when it came to financial stability, ethics and generosity. We worked hard. And he invested right along with the clients. We ate what we made."

Sit was a booster of America and the investment industry who also was a harsh critic of the industry's rule breakers who visited scandal on industry over the last decade.

"When you are in a position of responsibility you owe to your customers, investors and the public a high degree of integrity and trust," Sit said in 2006. "Some didn't meet a minimum standard. This industry needs a kick in the butt."

Five of his six children work for the 75-person firm. And most of the family's wealth is invested in the equity and bond funds of Sit Investments and Sit Mutual Funds. Roger Sit, a one-time analyst at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., said his father thought it important to demand as much or more from his children than from other employees.

"If anything, he had a higher standard for us," he said. "When I was at Goldman, I was a sell-side analyst. I called on Sit in the 1990s. I sold him on a company, Giddings & Louis of Wisconsin, that didn't work out very well. Later, he made sure that everyone knew he thought it was a stupid idea."

Sit and his wife, Gail, started the Minnesotans' Military Appreciation Fund to make grants to Minnesotans who've served in combat zones since Sept. 11, 2001, and to the families of those wounded or killed.

"Gene was the driving force and donated over $1 million," said Schulstad, also a former Minneapolis City Council member. "I have never known a more caring and patriotic person."

Business Hall of Fame

Sit was inducted this year into the Minnesota Business Hall of Fame. He received numerous industry and philanthropic awards, in addition to serving on the boards of the Minnesota Orchestra, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and Carleton College. He also received the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Award for Distinguished Public Service.

Sit is survived by his wife, six children and 11 grandchildren.

Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Christ Presbyterian Church in Edina. Visitation will be 4 to 8 p.m. Monday at Washburn-McCreavy Edina Chapel.