May 10 (Reuters) - Jim Simons, the math professor turned financier who helped popularize quantitative investing, has died aged 86, the Simons Foundation said on Friday.
Simons in 1978 founded what would become the hedge fund Renaissance Technologies. Based in New York, the firm employs mathematical and statistical methods in the design and execution of its investment programs, it says on its website.
Renaissance became one of the world's most successful hedge funds under Simons, who retired and stepped down as CEO in 2010. (Reporting by Jaiveer Singh Shekhawat and Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
