By Charles Stein - 2012-09-05T17:18:09Z

Edward P. Owens, whose $22.4 billion Vanguard Health Care Fund (VGHCX) has outperformed every U.S. equity mutual fund since it was created in 1984, will retire at the end of the year.

The fund returned 16 percent a year since May 1984, better than any other stock fund, according to data from Chicago-based Morningstar Inc. (MORN) The Standard & Poors 500 Index gained 11 percent annually over the same stretch.

He has made people a ton of money, Daniel Weiner, editor of the New York-based newsletter Independent Adviser for Vanguard Investors, said in a telephone interview. The guy is a legend.

Owens, 65, is a senior vice president and partner at Boston-based Wellington Management Company LP, which manages about $234 billion for Vanguard across 20 funds, the Valley Forge, Pennsylvania-based firm said today in a statement. Jean M. Hynes, a Wellington senior vice president and partner, will take over the fund, Vanguard said. She has worked on the funds team for almost 20 years, and will continue to manage it in a similar style, Hynes said today in a telephone interview.

Eds long-term track record of excellent returns puts him in very select company in the investment management business, Vanguard CEO F. William McNabb said in the statement. Owens is Vanguards longest-serving outside manager.

Owens, in a telephone interview, said he had an advantage over peers because he was a value investor in a growth industry.

During the industrys high-growth years, small disappointments created huge declines in stocks prices, he said. We were frequently able to come in afterwards and buy good companies.

In 1993, Owens bought shares in Immunex Corp., a biotechnology firm, after the failure of one of its drugs caused the stock to plummet. Amgen Inc., (AMGN) a Thousand Oaks, California company, agreed to buy Immunex in 2001 for $16 billion, a deal that gave shareholders in Owens fund an estimated gain of about $1 billion, he said.

A billion dollars is something, Owens said.

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Vanguard Health-Care Fund Manager Edward Owens to Retire