Jeremy Hunt Biggs died peacefully on Jan. 7 in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 79.

He was the son of the late William R. and Georgene W. Biggs of New York and Washington, D.C. He attended St. James School, graduated from Yale University in 1958 and then studied at London School of Economics. He worked as an investment manager for U.S. Steel before co-founding the investment firm Davis, Palmer and Biggs, which was acquired in 1978 by Fiduciary Trust. At Fiduciary Trust, he led the research department and served as chief investment officer until 2002; he also served on Fiduciary Trust’s board of directors for many years and remained a vice chairman until his death. He sat on the boards of numerous mutual funds including Davis Funds, which he also co-founded and where he was chairman of the board from 1996 to 2009. His philanthropic dedication led him to serve on several charity boards. He was the chairman of the Union Settlement Association in East Harlem, a trustee of the Museum of the City of New York, a board member of the Royal Oak Foundation and the president and chairman emeritus of the board of St. James School in Maryland.

The Biggs house on Lambert’s Cove Road in West Tisbury was his second and favorite home. He was as philanthropic on the Vineyard as he was in New York. He dedicated himself to charities such as the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, the YMCA and the Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse. In the past few years as they spent more and more time on the Island, Jeremy and his wife Friederike generously opened their house for important fundraising events for Island institutions.

On the Vineyard he was surrounded by friends who admired his grace, his signature wit and his integrity, as well as his insatiable curiosity for world history, economics and particularly for the life of Sir Winston Churchill, his hero and role model.

He was a deft inquisitor in political discussions, and he displayed a similar exactitude when serving as referee on the Biggs croquet court, where he ruled with an iron hand and a twinkle in his eye. His spirit and presence were a blessing to those who knew him, and Jeremy’s vision and generosity will leave a longstanding and important influence on the Vineyard’s future.

He was predeceased by his brother, Barton M. Biggs, and is survived by his wife Friederike Kemp Biggs; his brother Christopher N. Biggs; his four daughters, Fiona Druckenmiller, Allegra Lubrano, Melissa Bradley and Robin Noble; his two stepsons, Christopher and Alexander Kemp; and 12 grandchildren and four step-grandchildren.