Fidelity's Will Danoff is the face of key man risk as he reaches 25-year mark

New York

THIS autumn, the Boston-based fund giant Fidelity plans to celebrate the 25-year tenure of William Danoff, head of the biggest fund run by a single manager in the US and arguably the best-performing large cap manager of his time.

At a time when investors have been shifting tens of billions of dollars from active management to passively-managed funds, Mr Danoff is one of the few mutual fund managers whose quarterly disclosures can move market prices. His Contrafund, with US$106.3 billion in assets under management, is a mainstay of retirement savings plans nationwide.

Yet some financial advisers and fund analysts say they are concerned that Fidelity has yet to name a co-manager for Contrafund, setting up the risk that inves…