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Who

Dalio is the founder of Bridgewater Associates, a money management firm with approximately $170 billion in assets. The firm runs the second-largest hedge fund in the world, the $45 billion Pure Alpha fund.

Backstory

The son of a Long Island jazz musician, Ray Dalio says he made his first trade at the age of 12 (he tripled his money on an early pick, Northeast Airlines) and has been hooked ever since. After graduating CW Post and Harvard Business School, he had a summer job at Merrill Lynch and spent time working at brokerage firms Dominick & Dominick and Shearson Haydon Stone. When he was fired from the latter by Sandy Weill, Dalio decided to he was finished working for others and founded Bridgewater in his apartment on East 64th Street in 1975. Although he's had some lean years since then—the fallout from the collapse of Long-Term Capital Management in 1998 almost ruined him—he's had a solid run over the past two decades. Despite a less-than-stellar turnout in 2006 when Pure Alpha delivered an anemic 3.9 percent return, Bridgewater's funds have generated an average annual return of 13 percent since inception. Investors include large pension funds and universities like Georgetown, the Pennsylvania State Employees' Retirement System, and CalPERS.

Keeping score

Forbes reported Dalio made $500-600 million in 2007, and estimated his net worth at $4 billion, making him the 82nd richest man in America.

Campaign trail

Dalio is a major John McCain donor and supporter. He's hosted a number of fundraising events for the Arizona senator.

Pet causes

Dalio says he's adamant about giving 10 percent of his annual earnings to his family charity, the Dalio Foundation. Unfortunately, according to the non-profit's filings with the IRS, Dalio dispensed $4.8 million in 2006, which amounts to substantially less than 10 percent, even after taxes. Beneficiaries included the Robin Hood Foundation ($1.1 million), NYU ($500,000), and Maharishi University ($1 million) in order to "help support the good works of David Lynch." In case you're wondering, the filmmaker's non-profit teaches transcendental meditation to troubled school kids.

Off hours

Dalio hunts deer and elk, but he does it the old fashioned way: He uses a bow and arrow. And he occasionally eats what he kills.

Personal

Dalio and his wife, Barbara, live in Greenwich and have four sons. One son, Matt, founded the China Care Foundation at the age of 16 to help Chinese orphans. Dalio donated $500,000 to the non-profit in 2006.