Dam, This guy lives in my town!
James Simons
City: East Setauket, New York
Firm: Renaissance Technologies Corp.
Age: 67
Renaissance's Long Island retreat more resembles a college campus than a hedge-fund hub, and Simons, a former math professor with a Ph.D. from Berkeley who was once fired from a government defense job for protesting Vietnam, is not your typical tycoon. But industry insiders say that Renaissance's Medallion fund, with its black-box quantitative strategies, had another phenomenal year. Simons's cut of the profits: more than 35 percent.
Estimated income: $500-$550 million
