A.P. "Skip" Viragh, the founder of Rydex Funds, died at his Sarasota, Fla.-home on Dec. 11 of pancreatic cancer at the age of 62.
Carl Verboncoeur, president of Rydex Fund Services, has taken on the CEO position of Rydex Investments, while Michael Byrum, president of Rydex Capital Partners, has stepped into the COO role.
Before Rydex, Viragh was the director of institutional sales and marketing at Rushmore Funds, now FBR Mutual Funds, where he was responsible for the development of the Rushmore Nova Fund, which later became the foundation for the Rydex Funds. Viragh left Rushmore in 1993 to form Rydex after noticing the lack of attention mutual fund firms gave to financial advisers, registered investment advisers and sophisticated investors.
Since establishing Rockville, Md.-based Rydex, the firm has developed additional innovative investment solutions for advisers, including the first inverse equity and fixed income funds. The firm has 14 index-based funds, 17 sector funds and a government money market fund, totaling more than $9 billion in assets under management.
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