Early life

Henry's parents were farmers. At the age of 15 he suffered a lung-related illness prompting the family to move to Apple Valley, California. He attended Victor Valley College in Victorville, California, the University of California at Riverside and UCLA, studying philosophy but failed to obtain his degree.

Henry inherited the family farm upon his father's death. He started hedging corn and soybeans in order to counteract the changing prices in these commodities. In 1976, a commodities broker at Reynolds Securities offered him a job assisting private investors, but he declined. Henry later developed a theory based on trends and the trend following approach. He then began a career as a speculator in the commodities market, obtaining his CTA registration in 1981, and opened an office in Irvine, California. In 1989, Henry moved to Westport, Connecticut. Two years later, he established another office in Boca Raton, Florida

The Fund

Henry established The Fund in 1982 as an alternative asset management fund, the 8th largest managed futures advisor in the world by Assets under Management.^[1] The Fund employs a method of investing based on technical analysis and money management guidelines called a Black Box system, meaning it does not allow for human interaction based on so-called fundamentals or human emotions.^[2] On May 29 2007 Bloomberg news reported that Henry's Assets Under Management had fallen by 80% after losing 33% over the prior two years. On the same Day the Wall Street Journal reported that the firm was in talks about affiliating with another investment manager, but that no transaction is imminent.

Baseball

John W. Henry grew up a St. Louis Cardinals fan, especially of Stan Musial. After acquiring his fortune, his first foray into professional sports was attempting to head an NHL expansion bid for South Florida in 1990, which ended up going to Tampa Bay, pre-dating South Florida's more successful NHL expansion bid soon after by Wayne Huizenga. Henry entered baseball with his purchase of the Florida Marlins in 1998, which he ironically bought from Huizenga. After their 2002 season, Henry sold the Marlins in a multi-franchise deal which led he and partner Tom Werner's purchase of the Red Sox from John Harrington. Henry assembled an ownership team with the express goal of winning a championship, a feat accomplished in the 2004 World Series.

NASCAR

In 2006, Henry bought a 50% stake in the Jack Roush's Roush Fenway Racing stock car racing team. ^[3] The team's Matt Kenseth won the Auto Club 500 at the California Speedway in February 2007.