LPs

Philadelphia’s new pension CIO, Donatucci, dies

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Michael Donatucci, Philadelphia, investments, pension
Photo of Michael Donatucci courtesy of Victor L. Baldi Funeral Home
  • Michael Donatucci was appointed to CIO in April
  • Worked at SEI prior to joining pension
  • Was engaged to be married

Michael Donatucci, 30, the newly appointed chief investment officer of Philadelphia’s city pension system, died Friday.

“My thoughts and prayers are with the Donatucci family. Mike was a wonderful and talented man who will be missed by family, friends, and his co-workers,” Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said in a statement emailed to Buyouts.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on Donatucci’s death, an apparent suicide, over the weekend.

Donatucci was appointed by the Philadelphia Board of Pensions and Retirement in April, succeeding CIO Brad Woolworth, who left for undisclosed reasons. Donatucci told the Inquirer at the time that he would review the cost of various managers and how they were performing, and would cut underperforming hedge funds.

The pension system declined to discuss its next steps.

Prior to the city pension system, Donatucci worked for asset manager SEI in the institutional investor group starting in 2008, according to his LinkedIn profile.

“We are so saddened by this recent news. Mike was a valued employee of SEI, and specifically, the SEI Institutional Group, for eight years,” a statement from SEI provided by spokeswoman Dana Grosser said. “He provided proactive asset allocation advice to our institutional clients and worked on many key initiatives in the business unit.

“More importantly, Mike was a great colleague and friend to so many people here at SEI. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends,” the statement said.

Donatucci was engaged to be married in the fall, a source said. He was the son of the city’s register of wills, Ron Donatucci.

City of Philadelphia Municipal Pension Fund’s private equity portfolio held a market value of about $381.3 million as of April 2016, representing about 8.6 percent of the total fund, according to an April performance report. The market value of the total fund was about $4.4 billion as of April.

Action Item: In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Michael P. Donatucci Memorial Fund, 1504 S. Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19146. Read Donatucci’s obituary here: http://bit.ly/29IIU3F

Photo courtesy of Victor L. Baldi Funeral Home