Magellan Fund Manager to Retire Amid Shake-Up

Fidelity Investments said Monday that Robert Stansky, manager of its struggling flagship Magellan Fund, would retire as the world’s largest mutual fund company moved to shake up some of its laggard funds.

Harry Lange, 53, manager of the Capital Appreciation Fund and Advisor Small Cap portfolio, will succeed Stansky.

“I think for the first time since Peter Lynch, we’ll see Magellan back in the hands of a good go-anywhere growth manager,” said Jim Lowell, editor of independent newsletter Fidelity Investor.

For almost a decade, Stansky held the reins at Magellan, a portfolio propelled to fame by Peter Lynch and which was once the largest actively managed fund. But Stansky just could not match his famous predecessor’s returns.

“His head, his heart and his mind were all in the right place, he just wasn’t able to deliver,” said Chris Traulsen, a senior analyst who covers Fidelity for research firm Morningstar Inc. “It’s a highly visible failure.”

Stansky insisted Fidelity had not asked him to leave because of lackluster performance at the $52.5-billion fund, which has shed more than half its assets since 2000. Magellan has been closed to investors since 1997.

“If I were going to be forced out, I would assume it would’ve been a while ago,” he said on a conference call. “My numbers are better now than they were a couple of years ago.”

His departure, however, came amid a number of management and structural changes at Fidelity, such as the recently announced doubling of the domestic stock research team, designed to boost performance at some of its largest funds.