Mumbai: John Marks Templeton, investment pioneer and a champion of spiritual research who founded the annual Templeton Prize, died of pneumonia at a hospital in Nassau, the Bahamas. He was 95.

Templeton, who created one of the first global mutual funds in 1954 and became a billionaire investing in foreign stocks, devoted his latter years to philanthropy and the promotion of religion.

Templeton, perhaps ''the greatest global stock picker of the century," started his career when most Americans hated Wall Street ''that seemed to operate for the benefit of insiders and the very wealthy.'' The market was looked upon with suspicion after the the 1929 crash and the Great Depression.

Templeton didn't invent the mutual fund, but he made it popular. Before the 1950s, the vast majority of stocks were held directly by individuals, most quite wealthy. Templeton ''helped popularise mutual funds and put stocks in the hands of the individual investors.''

In 1939, when World War II began in Europe, the 26-year-old investor bought 100 shares each in 104 companies for $1 or less each on borrowed cash of $10,000 and made a huge profits years later.

A $10,000 investment in the Templeton Growth Fund in 1954 would have grown to $2 million by 1992, when Sir John sold his company to Franklin Resources, the San Mateo, California-based fund giant, for $913 million. That translates to an annualised return of 14.5 per cent.

He was an early investor in Japan in the 1960's and later in Russia, China and other Asian markets. He sold large holdings before the technology bubble burst in 2000.

Templeton specialised in value stocks, picking unfavored stocks and holding onto them long-term for great returns. Like Warren Buffett, Templeton opted to ignore the conventional wisdom.

Templeton later renounced his American citizenship and lived in the tax haven of the Bahamas.

Templeton was a master investor, but he didn't allow investing to dominate all aspects of his life. His accomplishments were equal to, if not surpassing those of Warren Buffet; but his humility precluded him from seeking the limelight. He was also a significant humanitarian.