(This is the Warren Buffett Watch newsletter, news and analysis on all things Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway. You can sign up here to receive it every Friday evening in your inbox.)
In an "exclusive" article headlined "The Untold Story of Charlie Munger's Final Years," The Wall Street Journal's Gregory Zuckerman reveals the "Berkshire vice chair was making gutsy investments, forging unlikely friendships and facing new challenges to the end."
Munger died two years ago on Nov. 28, 2023, at the age of 99, just a bit over a month shy of his 100th birthday.
The Journal writes, "Friends and family say Munger's eventful last period offers lessons for investors -- and a blueprint for how to age with grace, equanimity and purpose."
It quotes his stepson, Hal Borthwick as saying, "To the day he died, his mind was running. He never stopped learning."
He also never stopped looking for new investments, leafing through data on publicly traded companies in green Value Line binders.
He went against conventional wisdom in 2023 by investing in two companies involved with coal, which he believed would still be needed due to rising demand for energy, despite environmental concerns.
Borthwick tells The Journal, "He read an article that said coal was down the chute. He said, 'Horse feathers.'"
Friends say he had paper gains of more than $50 million on coal miner Consol Energy and Alpha Metallurgical Resources, which provides coal for steel production.