Raymond A. “Chip” Mason, founder of the Baltimore-based investment and asset management firm Legg Mason and a leader in the city’s business community, died Friday in Naples, Florida. He was 88.
Over four decades, Mason, a Virginia native and William & Mary alumnus, built a global business that managed more than $800 million in assets for its clients. He built Legg through acquisitions and transformed the company into a purely money manager.
Mason, who graduated from William & Mary in 1959, later championed the creation of a top-ranked business school there, and in 2005, the university established its first named school, the Raymond A. Mason School of Business.
Mason “devoted himself to preparing students to launch their own inspiring careers in business,” William & Mary President Katherine A. Rowe said in a statement. “He gave us a model for entrepreneurial-minded leadership that transforms the status quo.”
In a tribute posted on William & Mary’s website, Matthew T. Lambert, senior vice president for university advancement, called Mason a “true servant leader.”
“For William & Mary, the Mason name will forever represent ambition paired with generosity, leadership shaped by humility, and a legacy defined by uplifting others,” Lambert said. “Through his visionary support, our Mason School of Business continues to prepare principled leaders who will carry his values forward for generations.”
Mason served as chair of the Johns Hopkins University, chair of the Greater Baltimore Committee, chair of the United Way of Maryland, chair of the National Association of Securities Dealers and chair of Loyola University Maryland’s Sellinger School of Business.
Lawrence Pulley, left, former dean of William & Mary’s business school, and former W&M President Gene Nichol applaud Raymond A. “Chip” Mason, right, after the business school was officially named in his honor in 2005. “The legacy he created at his alma mater in business education will continue to influence students for ‘all time coming,’” Pulley said. Rob Ostermaier/Daily Press file
He also holds an honorary doctorate of humane letters from William & Mary and received the Alumni Medallion — the William & Mary Alumni Association’s highest award — and the Clarke Medallion — the most prestigious honor given by the business school.
Baltimore philanthropist Robert Embry and Mason were friends for over 50 years. They often talked about the Baltimore Orioles and the Ravens.
Embry, the soon-to-be-retiring president of the Abell Foundation, said he remembers Mason most for his humility, openness and dedication to civics.
“He was very civic-oriented, friendly and open,” Embry said. “I was gratified that he cared so much about the city and got involved, and I admired his interest and commitment to the city.”
As a member of the Maryland Stadium Authority in the 1980s, Mason helped craft the deal to build Camden Yards, which was a key to keeping the Orioles in Baltimore and setting the stage for the city to eventually attract the former Cleveland Browns, now Baltimore Ravens.
After graduating from William & Mary, Mason went on to work as a broker for his family’s business in Lynchburg, Tennessee, before founding Mason & Co. in Newport News in 1962.
As a student, he was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and served as an interpreter on a tour boat for Historic Jamestowne, according to William & Mary’s tribute. He attributed much of his success to the foundation he built in college.
“(My) William & Mary education provided me with the knowledge, skills, confidence, sophistication and language necessary to succeed,” he once said, according to W&M. “William & Mary also provided me with a remarkable network of fellow alumni with whom I have shared a profoundly rewarding life.”
Mason propositioned his good friend from college, Jim Brinkley, to join him in starting the firm. The two would go on to be business partners for the next 43 years with the same goal in mind: To be the best firm in the market by putting the client first.
“You don’t have the opportunity many times to work with someone throughout your entire career to build something great, so it was special,” Brinkley said. “We worked hard, and the thing I always loved about it was that not one day did either of us want to be anywhere else.”
Mason & Co. later merged with the firm Legg & Co. in 1970 to become Legg Mason, which was headquartered in Baltimore. Legg Mason went public in 1983, raising $14 million — equivalent to more than $45 million today.
After the company went public, Mason employed Richard Himelfarb, who served as the company’s legal counsel. Himelfarb was the head of Legg Mason’s investment banking and said everyone liked Mr. Mason for his strong leadership.
“Chip epitomized dynamic and visionary leadership,” Himelfarb said. “His charisma and integrity were traits that really stood out.”
Himelfarb said Mason led his employees with the mantra of “not wanting to see chalk on their shoes.” The mantra is a sports analogy that Himelfarb said stemmed from Mason’s leadership to operate the firm with unquestioned integrity and to keep his employees from getting near, or crossing the “out of bounds markers.”
Much of Mason’s leadership style was rooted in what Himelfarb said was Mason’s belief that Legg Mason had an obligation to give back to Baltimore and succeed for the community.
“Chip clearly believed that the firm had a responsibility to the city, and that was evident by his leadership in the community,” Himelfarb said.
In 2008, Mason retired as president and chief executive of Legg Mason at the age of 71, maintaining a role as a senior adviser to the firm, which was acquired in 2020 by California-based Franklin Templeton for $4.5 billion.
“Can our regional economy be truly healthy when the city’s unemployment rate is three times that of other counties and when the city is expected to be custodian of the state’s most severe poverty and crime problems,” Mason once wrote in a commentary for The Sun.
Reflecting on the 43 years that passed since Mason propositioned Brinkley to start a firm with him, Brinkley said that every step of the way, the two of them hit hard, hired good people and kept chalk off of their shoes to be the best firm they could possibly be.
“The thing I loved so much is that in working together for 43 years, there was never one word of profanity used between the two of us, and I thought that was special,” Brinkley said. “We had a great relationship.”
Virginia Gazette editor Kim O’Brien Root contributed to this story.
