In memoriam
Dr. Mark Mobius
1936 – 2026
Dedicated to the memory of the man who opened the world’s eyes to emerging markets, and who never stopped teaching the next generation to look for themselves.
30+
years leading Templeton’s emerging markets group
$50B+
in assets, grown from about $100 million
~70
countries invested in across his career
2026
Honorary Distinguished Fellow, Cornell’s Cañizares Center
A life in emerging markets
The investor who went to see for himself.
In 1987, Sir John Templeton invited Mark Mobius to run one of the first funds devoted to emerging markets. Over three decades he grew the Templeton Emerging Markets Group from about $100 million to over $50 billion. Along the way he visited factories and met management teams in some seventy countries, which earned him the nickname “the Indiana Jones of emerging markets.”
He later founded Mobius Capital Partners, and in 2023 co-founded Mobius Investments with John Ninia, now a member of our Board. He was a generous mentor to students: from 2021 he sponsored the student pitch competition at Cornell’s emerging-markets conference, and in 2026 he was named an Honorary Distinguished Fellow of Cornell’s Cañizares Center. He died on April 15, 2026, at the age of 89.
“I’d toured rubber plantations in Thailand and road-tested bikes over the pothole-ridden roads of rural China.”
Carrying it forward
Why we bear his name.
This Foundation continues his work: training students in emerging-markets analysis and trusting them with a real portfolio.