Friess Associates - Wealthy Santorum Supporter Tied To Del - The News Journal

Once at the bottom of national polls, Santorum's candidacy has surged after he won three presidential nominating contests in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri on Feb. 7 over GOP front-runner Mitt Romney.

Polls now show Santorum with a slight lead in the Feb. 28 Michigan primary in a race once considered an easy victory for Romney, who grew up in Michigan and whose father was a three-term governor there.

Friess' SuperPAC's pro-Santorum television ads are credited for helping carry cash-strapped Santorum to victory in Minnesota.

"What's interesting is these SuperPAC donors are almost becoming personalities in and of themselves," said Sam Hoff, political science professor at Delaware State University. "This thing seems like it's spread like wildfire."

Ties to Delaware

Friess, 71, is well-known in Delaware, after founding the investment advisory company, Friess Associates Inc., in Greenville with his wife, Lynn, in 1974.

The company, which has an office in Jackson Hole, Wyo., manages the Brandywine Funds family of mutual funds and separate portfolios. Friess has not played a day-to-day role in Friess Associates or the Brandywine Fund since 2002. The majority owner is Affiliated Managers Group and the minority owners are existing Friess employees.

After Friess Associates opened an office in Wyoming in 1991, he spent most of his time there.

Friess, a graduate of the University of Wisconsin, gained a reputation in the 1980s as one of the most successful money managers. Forbes magazine in 1989 put him in the top three of best performers for the previous five years.

The son of a Wisconsin cattle farmer, Friess came to Wilmington around 1964 to work for Brittingham Inc., a small Centreville investment counseling firm. It was headed by Baird Brittingham, whose grandfather, Thomas E. Brittingham, founded and built a wealthy Wisconsin lumber company.

Brittingham Inc., which had a seat on the New York Stock Exchange, began handling the Nobel Foundation's U.S. investments in 1951. Friess worked at Brittingham for 10 years.