In today's investment world, the so-called celebrity investor is commonplace, such as Ken Heebner, Peter Lynch, Warren Buffett, and Jim Cramer.

However, one of the first celebrity investors was Gerald Tsai, who made a big impact on the go-go markets of the 1960s. Unfortunately, this week he Tsai died at the age of 79 (ironically, he was born in 1929, a critical year for the world's stock markets).

Keep in mind that when Tsai got his start -- as a money manager for Fidelity Investments -- Wall Street was a fairly conservative place. That is, money managers focused on well-known companies that usually paid reliable dividends.

The concept of growth investing was quite foreign and scary. But Tsai saw it as a big opportunity. After all, the U.S. was undergoing a major change with new technologies (such as computers). As a result, he innovated a new type of investment vehicle: the aggressive growth fund. Through this, he evolved some of the key concepts of momentum investing.

Tsai's fund zoomed 27X from 1957 to 1965. From there, he started his own fund, the Manhattan Fund, which he sold to CNA Financial in 1968. It was great timing as the bull market was ready to implode.

But that wasn't the end of Tsai. In fact, in the 1980s, he sensed opportunity and leveraged his assets to purchase American Can. Through savvy dealmaking, he turned the company into Primerica, which ultimately became part of Citigroup (NYSE: C).

Yes, Tsai had an amazing life. And, if you want to learn more about it, there's a good book on the topic: The Go-Go Years: The Drama and Crashing Finale of Wall Street's Bullish 60s.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates MergerBook.com.