Peter Lynch Fortune Hall of Fame Acceptance Speech - Caddying, Fidelity & Family

Lynch begins by praising Junior Achievement: 'Junior Achievement is clearly one of the really great success stories in this country - a national resource for educating our youth and has achieved remarkable results for 45 years without one dollar of taxpayer money. While JA has over 1.3 million students nationally, in Eastern Massachusetts and New Hampshire the number is over 15,000. This figure has risen over 50% in the last three years and several new programs have been successfully started. There is great momentum in my part of the world. From what I have learned just in the last few weeks, the growth potential in the next few years is outstanding.' Shows private sector education success at scale.

Lynch on early life: 'I've had a life filled with many blessings from God. As a child I had the great fortune of having an outstanding mother. My father contracted cancer when I was seven and died when I was ten. My oldest brother was [hospitalized] and three years of hospital bills wiped all of our savings. My mother went out to work and found a job and also kept our family life fun and enjoyable.' Shows resilience and formative experience with financial hardship that may have influenced his investment philosophy and empathy for ordinary investors.

Lynch on caddying's impact: 'Good luck struck when I was 11 and I acquired a job as a caddy at a wonderful place called Brae Burn Country Club in my town of Newton, Massachusetts. Caddying for the next 10 years on weekends and in the summer did so many important things for me. First it enabled me to save some money and also support my family to a small degree. It also enabled me to earn a Francis Ouimet caddie scholarship for $300 a year which paid for 30% of my tuition each year at Boston College. However probably of the greater importance of all - these lessons I learned in caddying, not unlike what you have in Junior Achievement has brought to millions of children in the schoolroom - I learned from caddying the values of working hard, enthusiasm, patience, honesty, consistency and being a good listener. I was exposed to numerous professional people who were considerate and interested in other people despite being rich and successful.' The connection: 'When I applied for a summer job in 1966 I was one of 75 candidates for three jobs at Fidelity. However I was the only one that had caddied for the president for the last nine years. [Audience laughs] Surprisingly I got that job and that was the only job interview I ever took in my life. It's the only company I ever worked for, it's the only company I'll ever work for.'

Lynch on his wife: 'My greatest fortune in my life was finding my best friend and my wife Carolyn when I went to graduate school at Wharton. She's been such a constant and able source of support for 23 years. She's put up with all the pressure by being away from home six day work weeks of 70 to 80 hours from 1982 to 1990 [his Magellan years] and all my various complaints about companies reporting lousy earnings, new products not working, recessions, companies cutting their dividends, etc. She also has raised three incredible girls: Mary, Annie and Beth. Beth and Annie are here tonight. Unfortunately Mary is in the middle of exam period at school and can't come here but it's incredible for me to have two of my daughters and my wonderful wife in the audience.' Shows personal cost of managing Magellan at its peak - essentially absent from family with brutal work schedule, wife carried household.

Lynch concludes: 'Let me conclude by saying I've had an incredible privilege - the opportunity to manage the savings of over a million families. The Hall of Fame award is easily the greatest honor of my life. I accept it on behalf of myself, my wife Carolyn, and my associates and friends at Fidelity Investments that made my record not only possible but probable. That makes me a very very happy person. Thank you.' Shows humility - credits team at Fidelity and emphasizes fiduciary duty to million+ families whose savings he managed.