Claude Dalphond, a graduate of HEC, had a long career in Montreal in the field of finance, notably managing the STM (Société des transports de Montréal) pension fund for about thirty years. He passed away on December 5, 2024, after a short illness. After his retirement in the early 2000s, he served on more than ten boards of directors, as his expertise and intelligence were highly recognized.
I met Claude Dalphond for the first time in 1990 when I went to his office to explain my COTE 100 system. To my surprise, at the end of the presentation, he told me outright that the pension fund was ready to entrust me with two million dollars to manage a fund specializing in Quebec small caps. By the time that fund was dissolved in 2007, it was worth more than $75 million.
It took a true “contrarian” to entrust such an amount at the time to a manager who was just starting out. At that moment, Claude was the first Quebec manager to give us such a mandate, when COTE 100 was limited to a financial newsletter and a few consulting mandates for Quebec securities. I have always been grateful to him because if COTE 100 now manages nearly $3.5 billion, it is largely thanks to his initial show of trust.
Beyond our business relationship, Claude became a family friend, present at all our important events. He also advised my son Philippe many times over the years. Whenever we faced an important question, we naturally turned to him, and he was always extremely generous and insightful in his advice. He once gave my grandson Christophe the complete collection of La Comédie humaine by Balzac, knowing he was an avid and passionate reader.
This was, in fact, a lesser-known side of him because his generosity was matched only by his discretion.
Around 2012, he mentioned to me that it would be interesting to create a scholarship to support a master’s student in finance at HEC. That is how we jointly created the Dalphond-Le Blanc scholarship. Claude’s goal was to help a deserving student but also to support someone who needed assistance to establish themselves in Montreal’s financial community. The mission was accomplished, as nine out of ten former scholarship recipients are now thriving in Montreal’s financial sector.
And that is not to mention the many donations he made throughout his life, which he would not want me to mention if he were still with us.
In addition to his immense generosity, I also admired Claude’s qualities as a long-term investor. His contrarian mindset, his great patience, and his ability to pressure certain company leaders to treat all shareholders fairly are, for me, models to follow.
But Claude was more than all that: he was a humanist. Always attentive to the person he met, always curious to know where you came from, about your family, your friends, your projects, and your aspirations.
And if you met him, he would always surprise you with his remarkable memory. It was better not to challenge or contradict him on his favorite topics, such as arts, music, history, and politics. Over the years, he surprised many with his encyclopedic knowledge.
Farewell, my brother, my friend. You left too soon, but you will always remain in my memory.
Photo: Guy Le Blanc and Claude Dalphond (right), HEC scholarship ceremony, April 2023.
