Wally Weitz

Wally Weitz
Birthplace	United States
Nationality	American
Occupation	Investor, fund manager, philanthropist
Title	Founder and Co-Chief Investment Officer
Employer	Weitz Investment Management
Known for	Founder of Weitz Investment Management; board member of Berkshire Hathaway
Education	Carleton College (Class of 1970)

Wallace R. "Wally" Weitz is an American investor, fund manager, and philanthropist who founded Weitz Investment Management, an Omaha, Nebraska-based investment firm where he serves as co-chief investment officer. A practitioner of value investing, Weitz built a decades-long career managing mutual funds and overseeing portfolios grounded in fundamental analysis and a long-term orientation toward equity markets. In March 2022, Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate led by Warren Buffett, nominated Weitz to fill an open seat on its board of directors, underscoring his standing within the American investment community. Beyond his investment career, Weitz and his wife, Barbara Weitz, have engaged in significant philanthropic activity, directing tens of millions of dollars toward educational institutions including Carleton College and the University of Nebraska. Their contributions to Carleton College, Weitz's alma mater, have exceeded $45 million in total gifts, funding the construction of a major campus building that bears the family's name.

Education

Wally Weitz attended Carleton College, a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, graduating with the Class of 1970. His time at Carleton appears to have had a lasting impact on his life and career; he and his family have maintained a deep and sustained connection to the institution over the ensuing decades, both financially and through programmatic involvement. The Class of 1970, of which Weitz is a prominent member, announced the largest 50th Reunion class gift in the history of Carleton College in June 2020, contributing $64.2 million to the institution. Weitz's own giving to the college, detailed further below, has been among the most substantial in Carleton's history and has shaped the physical and programmatic landscape of the campus.

Career

Weitz Investment Management

Wally Weitz founded Weitz Investment Management, an investment advisory firm headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. The firm operates within the tradition of value investing, an approach to equity selection that emphasizes purchasing securities trading below their intrinsic value and holding them over extended time horizons. Weitz has served as co-chief investment officer of the firm, overseeing the management of mutual funds and investment portfolios.

Based in the same city as Berkshire Hathaway, Weitz has operated within a community of investors influenced by the value investing principles associated with Warren Buffett and, before him, Benjamin Graham. Weitz Investment Management has managed several funds and has been recognized for its disciplined, research-intensive approach to stock selection. The firm's investment philosophy centers on identifying companies with strong fundamentals, durable competitive advantages, and management teams that allocate capital effectively.

Berkshire Hathaway Board Nomination

On March 11, 2022, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. announced that it had nominated Wally Weitz to fill an open seat on its board of directors. The nomination was reported by multiple major news outlets, including Reuters and The Wall Street Journal, which identified Weitz as the founder and co-chief investment officer of Weitz Investment Management.

The nomination to Berkshire Hathaway's board represented a significant recognition of Weitz's career and reputation within the investment community. Berkshire Hathaway, led by Warren Buffett, is one of the largest and most closely watched companies in the world, and seats on its board are occupied by individuals selected for their business acumen, integrity, and alignment with the company's long-term investment philosophy. Weitz's nomination signaled the high regard in which he was held by Buffett and Berkshire's leadership.

Reuters reported that the nomination was intended to fill an existing vacancy on the board. The Wall Street Journal provided further context, noting Weitz's role as co-chief investment officer at his firm and situating the appointment within the broader context of Berkshire's board composition.

Philanthropy

Wally Weitz and his wife, Barbara Weitz, have been significant philanthropists, directing substantial resources toward educational institutions and nonprofit organizations, primarily in Nebraska and Minnesota.

Carleton College

The Weitz family's philanthropic relationship with Carleton College has been among the most notable in the institution's history. Wally Weitz and the Weitz family have contributed over $45 million in total gifts to the college. This giving has supported both capital projects and programmatic initiatives on campus.

The Weitz Center for Creativity

The most visible manifestation of the Weitz family's generosity to Carleton College is the Weitz Center for Creativity, an academic building on the Carleton campus in Northfield, Minnesota. The building, which was formerly a middle school and high school, was converted and opened in the fall of 2011. The center serves as a hub for arts and interdisciplinary programming at Carleton.

The Weitz Center houses a variety of facilities. In addition to classrooms, the building contains the Perlman Teaching Museum, which provides exhibition space and educational programming related to the visual arts. The center also includes a theater and two dance studios, supporting the college's performing arts programs.

In 2017, a new addition to the Weitz Center was completed, focused on music and performing arts. This expansion added a performance hall, rehearsal spaces, and faculty offices, substantially increasing the building's capacity and scope. The building has received LEED Gold certification, recognizing its sustainable design and construction practices.

The naming of the center reflects the scale of the Weitz family's contributions to the college and their commitment to supporting the arts and creative inquiry within a liberal arts educational setting.

The Weitz Fellowship

The Weitz family's philanthropy at Carleton College also extends to programmatic initiatives. The Weitz Fellowship is a program that provides one-year, paid, full-time positions within the nonprofit sector to graduating Carleton seniors. The fellowship places recent graduates in nonprofit organizations, primarily in Nebraska, where they gain professional experience while contributing to community-based work.

The program has been ongoing for multiple years. In the 2023–24 cycle, selected fellows traveled to Nebraska for an introduction to their fellowship year, meeting with current and former fellows, the Weitz family, and members of the Carleton Career Center. In June 2025, Carleton announced that eight seniors from the Class of 2025 had been awarded the Weitz Fellowship. As of early 2026, the 2025–26 Weitz Fellows were sharing updates about their experiences working in Nebraska's nonprofit sector.

The Weitz Fellowship reflects the family's interest in connecting Carleton students with civic and community organizations, particularly in their home state of Nebraska. It represents a bridge between the liberal arts education provided by Carleton and the practical work of the nonprofit sector.

50th Reunion Class Gift

In June 2020, Carleton College announced that the Class of 1970—Wally Weitz's graduating class—had set a new record for 50th reunion giving, contributing $64.2 million to the college. This was described as the largest 50th Reunion class gift in the history of the institution. While the gift represented collective contributions from multiple class members, Weitz's status as one of the most prominent and wealthiest alumni of the class suggests a significant individual role in achieving this milestone.

University of Nebraska

In June 2023, it was announced that Barbara and Wally Weitz had committed $25 million to the University of Nebraska. The gift was intended to create an endowed fund supporting the university's programs and initiatives. Barbara Weitz serves as a university regent, and the couple's commitment reflected their sustained engagement with higher education in Nebraska. Philanthropy News Digest reported on the gift, describing it as a major contribution from a university regent and her husband.

The University of Nebraska gift, combined with the Weitz family's contributions to Carleton College, represents a philanthropic portfolio directed primarily at educational institutions. The total publicly documented giving from the Weitz family to these two institutions alone exceeds $70 million.

Nebraska Journalism

Wally Weitz has also been involved in supporting journalism in Nebraska. In March 2024, the Flatwater Free Press, a nonprofit news organization covering Nebraska, reported on developments at the Nebraska Journalism Trust, including new board members and hires. The Weitz family's engagement with local journalism initiatives in Nebraska reflects a broader philanthropic interest in civic infrastructure and public information.

Personal Life

Wally Weitz is married to Barbara Weitz. The couple resides in the Omaha, Nebraska area, where Wally's investment firm is headquartered. Barbara Weitz has served as a regent of the University of Nebraska, a role that involves governance and oversight of the university system.

The Weitz family's philanthropic activities suggest deep ties to both Omaha and the broader Nebraska community, as well as to Carleton College in Minnesota. Their giving has focused on education, the arts, nonprofit capacity building, and journalism, reflecting interests that span the cultural and civic landscape of the communities where they live and to which they are connected.

Recognition

Wally Weitz's nomination to the board of directors of Berkshire Hathaway in 2022 represented one of the most prominent forms of professional recognition in the American business community. Berkshire Hathaway board seats are among the most closely watched corporate governance positions in the United States, and the nomination reflected the confidence of Warren Buffett and Berkshire's leadership in Weitz's judgment, character, and investment philosophy.

The naming of the Weitz Center for Creativity at Carleton College in honor of the Weitz family constitutes a significant institutional recognition of their philanthropic contributions. The building, which opened in 2011 and was expanded in 2017, serves as a lasting acknowledgment of the family's impact on the college's arts and academic programs.

The Weitz Fellowship program at Carleton College further ensures that the Weitz name is associated with civic engagement and professional development for young graduates entering the nonprofit sector. Each year, a new cohort of Weitz Fellows carries the family's philanthropic legacy into communities across Nebraska.

The record-setting 50th Reunion gift from the Carleton Class of 1970, totaling $64.2 million, also brought attention to Weitz and his classmates for their collective generosity to their alma mater.

Legacy

Wally Weitz's legacy spans both the investment world and the philanthropic landscape of the American Midwest. As the founder of Weitz Investment Management, he built a firm rooted in the principles of value investing that has operated for decades out of Omaha, a city synonymous with the discipline thanks to the presence of Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway. His nomination to the Berkshire Hathaway board in 2022 placed him among a select group of individuals entrusted with governance responsibilities at one of the most significant companies in American corporate history.

Through their philanthropy, Wally and Barbara Weitz have left a tangible imprint on multiple institutions. The Weitz Center for Creativity at Carleton College serves as both a functional academic building—housing classrooms, a museum, a theater, dance studios, a performance hall, and rehearsal spaces—and a symbol of the transformative potential of alumni giving to liberal arts colleges. The building's LEED Gold certification also reflects a commitment to environmental sustainability in campus construction.

The Weitz Fellowship program extends the family's influence beyond bricks and mortar, creating a pipeline of Carleton graduates into Nebraska's nonprofit sector. By funding full-time, paid positions for recent graduates, the program addresses both the professional development needs of young people and the capacity challenges facing community organizations.

The $25 million commitment to the University of Nebraska, announced in 2023, further demonstrates the breadth of the Weitz family's educational philanthropy, extending their giving beyond Wally's alma mater to an institution central to their home state.

Taken together, Weitz's career and philanthropy represent a model of long-term value creation—both financial and civic—anchored in Omaha, Nebraska, and extending to institutions and communities across the Midwest.