# Frederick Taylor
**C. Frederick Taylor**, known as Fred Taylor, is a mathematician who co-founded TGS Management LLC, a quantitative hedge fund established in 1989 and headquartered in [Irvine, California](https://www.edgepedia.org/irvine-california), with an office in [Princeton, New Jersey](https://www.edgepedia.org/princeton-new-jersey).[1](https://www.preqin.com/data/profile/fund-manager/tgs-management/653172) TGS was founded by three mathematicians: Taylor, [Andrew Shechtel](https://www.edgepedia.org/andrew-shechtel), and David Gelbaum.[2](https://www.efinancialcareers.hk/news/tgs-management-company-llc) He is the "T" in the firm's name, which is drawn from the starting letters of the three founders' surnames: Taylor, Gelbaum, and Shechtel.[1](https://www.preqin.com/data/profile/fund-manager/tgs-management/653172) *Not to be confused with Frederick Winslow Taylor, the 19th-century management theorist.*
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Full name | C. Frederick "Fred" Taylor[3](https://www.ocbj.com/special-report/ocs-wealthiest-2026/c-frederick-fred-taylor-4/) |
| Firm | Co-founder and partner, TGS Management LLC[3](https://www.ocbj.com/special-report/ocs-wealthiest-2026/c-frederick-fred-taylor-4/) |
| Founded | 1989, after the partners worked at Princeton-Newport Partners[1](https://www.preqin.com/data/profile/fund-manager/tgs-management/653172) |
| Strategy | Computer-driven quantitative investing; arbitrage/relative value and event-driven[1](https://www.preqin.com/data/profile/fund-manager/tgs-management/653172) |
| Locations | Irvine, California; Princeton, New Jersey[1](https://www.preqin.com/data/profile/fund-manager/tgs-management/653172) |
| Estimated wealth | $4.4 billion as of July of the Orange County Business Journal's 2026 reporting year[4](https://www.ocbj.com/oc-homepage/irvine-hedge-fund-tgs-plans-office-compound/) |
| Philanthropy | More than $13 billion committed to charity, per a 2014 Bloomberg investigation[5](https://www.cnbc.com/2014/05/09/mystery-13-billion-philanthropists-revealed.html) |
## Career before TGS and the founding of the firm
Taylor and his co-founders came out of Princeton-Newport Partners, the quantitative hedge fund founded in 1969 by the mathematician [Edward O. Thorp](https://www.edgepedia.org/edward-o-thorp) and widely described as the first of its kind.[1](https://www.preqin.com/data/profile/fund-manager/tgs-management/653172) The TGS partners are described as disciples of Thorp.[3](https://www.ocbj.com/special-report/ocs-wealthiest-2026/c-frederick-fred-taylor-4/)
In 1989 the three partners opened their own hedge fund. Thorp told *Businessweek* that it practiced statistical arbitrage, profiting when recently fallen stocks rose and recently risen stocks fell.[3](https://www.ocbj.com/special-report/ocs-wealthiest-2026/c-frederick-fred-taylor-4/)
## TGS Management: trading approach and structure
TGS launched more than 30 years ago as one of the first quantitative investing firms and uses computer algorithms to invest through a "quant" strategy.[4](https://www.ocbj.com/oc-homepage/irvine-hedge-fund-tgs-plans-office-compound/) Industry data provider Preqin lists the firm as using arbitrage/relative value and event-driven strategies.[1](https://www.preqin.com/data/profile/fund-manager/tgs-management/653172)
The firm operates from Irvine, California, where it leases an entire 115,000-square-foot building at the Irvine Co.'s Spectrum Terrace campus and has built a new data center for its operations, and from Princeton, New Jersey.[4](https://www.ocbj.com/oc-homepage/irvine-hedge-fund-tgs-plans-office-compound/) Its founding team comprised Taylor, the late [David Gelbaum](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-gelbaum), and Andrew Shechtel.[4](https://www.ocbj.com/oc-homepage/irvine-hedge-fund-tgs-plans-office-compound/)
Secrecy is a defining feature. Preqin's public profile shows no disclosed assets under management and no funds currently managed for TGS.[1](https://www.preqin.com/data/profile/fund-manager/tgs-management/653172) The firm has no meaningful public footprint beyond two episodes: a 2014 Bloomberg investigation and the Business Journal's own real-estate coverage; apart from these there has been next to no public mention of the firm or its founders.[3](https://www.ocbj.com/special-report/ocs-wealthiest-2026/c-frederick-fred-taylor-4/)
## Philanthropy and the Renaissance comparison
A 2014 [Bloomberg News](https://www.edgepedia.org/bloomberg-news) investigation revealed that Andrew Shechtel, David Gelbaum, and C. Frederick Taylor, the co-founders of TGS, had committed more than $13 billion to charity.[5](https://www.cnbc.com/2014/05/09/mystery-13-billion-philanthropists-revealed.html) The Business Journal described the Bloomberg report as saying the trio had "secretly directed one of the largest pools of philanthropic capital for years."[3](https://www.ocbj.com/special-report/ocs-wealthiest-2026/c-frederick-fred-taylor-4/)
TGS is frequently compared with [Renaissance Technologies](https://www.edgepedia.org/renaissance-technologies), the quant fund that closed to outside investors in 2005. Like Renaissance, TGS is understood to have returned outside money, but this has never been confirmed.[2](https://www.efinancialcareers.hk/news/tgs-management-company-llc)
## By the numbers
Estimates of Taylor's wealth have risen sharply. A 2019 listing estimated $1 billion; earlier Business Journal reporting put the range from $1.2 to 1.3 billion up to multiple billions.[3](https://www.ocbj.com/special-report/ocs-wealthiest-2026/c-frederick-fred-taylor-4/) As of July of its 2026 reporting year, the Business Journal conservatively estimated his wealth at $4.4 billion, a figure it boosted by $1.1 billion after sources familiar with the founders said prior estimates were likely well on the low side.[4](https://www.ocbj.com/oc-homepage/irvine-hedge-fund-tgs-plans-office-compound/)
The firm's size in managed assets remains unpublished; no assets under management are disclosed.[1](https://www.preqin.com/data/profile/fund-manager/tgs-management/653172)
## Irvine real estate and recent expansion
TGS's most visible activity since 2023 has been in Orange County real estate. In 2023 Barranca Properties LLC, a Taylor affiliate he formed in late 2021 according to state records, paid an affiliate of Five Point Holdings $240 million for a vacant 42-acre agricultural site in Irvine, one of the largest local land purchases in recent memory.[4](https://www.ocbj.com/oc-homepage/irvine-hedge-fund-tgs-plans-office-compound/)
TGS filed plans with the City of Irvine for a 207,395-square-foot office building on that site, pushing its investment there above $300 million. The campus will be closed to the public, protected by walls and berms 8 to 40 feet high.[4](https://www.ocbj.com/oc-homepage/irvine-hedge-fund-tgs-plans-office-compound/)
Two years before the Business Journal's 2026 report, TGS sold two Irvine office buildings for $60 million to Bridge Industrial.[3](https://www.ocbj.com/special-report/ocs-wealthiest-2026/c-frederick-fred-taylor-4/) In March 2024 the firm planned to redevelop the former Cal State Fullerton satellite campus at 1 and 3 Banting in Irvine into two warehouses.[6](https://therealdeal.com/la/2024/03/28/tgs-management-plans-office-warehouse-conversion-in-irvine/)
## References
1. [TGS Management Hedge Fund Manager Profile, Preqin](https://www.preqin.com/data/profile/fund-manager/tgs-management/653172)
2. [The world's most secretive electronic trading firm may treat you so well you will never leave, eFinancialCareers](https://www.efinancialcareers.hk/news/tgs-management-company-llc)
3. [C. Frederick "Fred" Taylor, OC's Wealthiest 2026, Orange County Business Journal](https://www.ocbj.com/special-report/ocs-wealthiest-2026/c-frederick-fred-taylor-4/)
4. [Irvine Hedge Fund TGS Plans Office Compound, Orange County Business Journal](https://www.ocbj.com/oc-homepage/irvine-hedge-fund-tgs-plans-office-compound/)
5. [Mystery $13 billion philanthropists revealed, CNBC](https://www.cnbc.com/2014/05/09/mystery-13-billion-philanthropists-revealed.html)
6. [TGS Management Plans Office-Warehouse Conversion in Irvine, The Real Deal](https://therealdeal.com/la/2024/03/28/tgs-management-plans-office-warehouse-conversion-in-irvine/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Economics and business › Founders, operators, and investors › Hedge funds, trading firms, and public-market investors › Quantitative hedge funds*
*Initially written Sep 19, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 19, 2026 · Edited: Oct 11, 2026; Oct 15, 2026 · Last review: Sep 19, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license