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Buffett was born on Saturday, August 30th 1930. He was the second of three children and was the only boy in the Omaha, Nebraska-based family.
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At the ripe-old age of 11, Warren Buffett made his first stock purchase, which was six shares of Cities Service. Three of the shares were for himself and the other three for his sister. Buffett bought in at $38 per share and after watching the stock plummet and finally break through the $38 mark, sold his stake; the stock would go on to skyrocket past $200 per share.
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Warren's father, Howard Buffett, was elected to the United States Congress as a representative for Nebraska's second district in 1942. Shortly thereafter, the family relocated to Washington, D.C. where Warren would finish elementary school. Howard Buffett would serve four total terms, three of which were consecutive.
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At the age of 14, Warren filed a tax return for the paper route that he worked. He was even savvy enough to take a $35 deduction for the cost of his bike.
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Buffett graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School and would go on to start the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania in the fall.
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After learning that Ben Graham and Phil Fisher were professors at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Buffett transferred to learn from his favorite investors. Incidentally, Buffett remains an avid Cornhusker fan to this day. He would earn a Bachelors degree in 1950 and go on to get another B.S. from Columbia the following year.
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Buffett was an investment salesman at the Omaha-based company.
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Buffett and Thompson married in 1952 and separated in 1977, though they remained married until Susan's death in 2004.
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Susan is Warren's first child and is named after her mother. She is a well known philanthropist and serves on the board of Girls Inc.
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Working for one of his investing idols, Benjamin Graham, Buffett was a securities analyst in New York.
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Howard Graham Buffett was named both after Warren's father, Howard, and Warren's favorite professor/mentor, Benjamin Graham.
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The partnership began when Buffett rounded up seven limited partners that included his sister and his aunt. He raised over $100,000 to start off and was managing more than $300,000 by the end of 1956.
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Peter is Warren's second son and youngest child. He is an acclaimed author as well as an accomplished singer.
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Buffett would name himself Director of the company and hired Ken Chace as President.
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In the investor letter, Buffett noted that he would only allow for new money or more investors if they could bring an asset other than capital to the table.
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Buffett is best known for his involvement with Berkshire Hathaway, as he has been one of the most prolific CEOs in history.
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In 1977, Susan and Warren separated though remaining legally married; she left to pursue her singing career. Susan would then introduce Buffett to Astrid Menks, who Buffett would eventually marry.
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At the end of 1983, Buffett was worth an estimated $620 million, placing him on the Forbes 400 list for the first time.
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As proof that Buffett is human, Black Monday and the ensuing market crash saw Berkshire's stock dip by 25% and caused Buffett to lose approximately $342 million in his personal portfolio.
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In 1988, Buffett would begin to load up on Coca-Cola stock, a move that turned out to be one of his most profitable investments ever.
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The debut of the Class A shares was a major milestone in Buffett's life. The stock closed at $8,200 and traded 46,000 times during the trading session.
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Though it had been building its stake for a number of years, it was not until January of 1996 that GEICO was wholly owned by Berkshire Hathaway.
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The 9/11 terrorist attacks caused Buffett to lose nearly $3 billion due to insurance costs; he would go on to apologize to investors for not properly pricing insurance coverage.
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At the time, Bill Gates was the richest man in the world with Buffett coming in second place. Gates had long been a shareholder in the company and had a good relationship with Buffett; the two frequently played bridge together.
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Buffett made a big splash when he announced an ongoing donation of Berkshire Class B shares to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The total donation was for 10 million shares with the first year's donation being worth $1.5 billion.
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Buffett had been with Astrid for some time prior to marrying in 2006. It was a relationship that his wife Susan Buffett approved of. In fact, holiday cards were often signed Susan, Warren and Astrid.
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In his annual shareholder letter, Buffett stated that he was searching for someone who would take over the company after him. He initially indicated that Lou Simpson, who ran investments at GEICO, would be a good fit, but Simpson is just six years younger than Buffett.
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Warren was diagnosed with prostate cancer at the age of 81. The disease was caught early and Buffett noted that is was not life threatening. Wasting little time, he completed his treatment in September of 2012 after 44 rounds of radiation.
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Buffett debuted with five simple words, "Warren is in the house." His feed caught fire, amassing thousands of followers by the second for a good part of the day.
