Charlie Munger’s acumen, wisdom and irreverence: Investors mourn the loss of one-of-a-kind legend

As Charlie Munger’s admirers around the global mourn the loss of one of the most influential investors ever, a deep sense of gratitude and appreciation has spread — for his unparalleled business acumen as well as his uniquely sharp tongue.

Munger, Berkshire Hathaway’s vice chairman who died Tuesday one month shy of his 100th birthday, left a mark on generations of investors in a host of ways thanks to a long and fruitful life.

First and foremost, Munger’s investment philosophy rubbed off on none other than Warren Buffett, giving rise to the sprawling conglomerate worth almost $800 billion that Berkshire is today.

Early in their careers, Munger broadened Buffett’s investing approach, eventually turning away the younger Buffett from buying dirt cheap, “cigar-butt” companies that might still have a little smoke left in them, to instead focus on quality companies selling at fair prices.

“Certainly as Berkshire shareholders, we owe them a debt of gratitude because the earlier you get to a good decision, the better,” Bill Stone, chief investment officer at Glenview Trust, said in an interview. Such timing gives rise to “a compound” effect, he said.

Recognizing a good business

Matt McLennan, co-head of the global value team and portfolio manager at First Eagle Investments, a longtime investor in Berkshire, recalled a meeting with Munger more than 15 years ago, where he asked how he and Buffett spent their time, given their claim that they made investment decisions in only minutes.

“Charlie responded ‘reading,’ which struck me as quite apt given his uncanny ability to build mental models of how the world works and use these models as the advance groundwork for efficient decision-making,” McLennan told CNBC.

Munger long emphasized the importance of recognizing a good business before it’s widely seen as such, and he did so many times in his storied career.

He made a…