Marshall Loeb turns 80

Marshall Loeb, the former editor of Fortune and Money and now a columnist for Marketwatch.com, writes about his six-decade career Tuesday as he celebrates his 80th birthday.

Loeb writes, “Let me share with you what I think have been the most significant stories that I have been fortunate enough to cover in these past six decades. What strikes me when doing so is how humble people, often working alone, can rise from nowhere, gather some passionate followers and change the whole world.

“One of them is Nelson Mandela. He is the most important African who ever lived and he gave me the best interview I’ve ever had. I got it largely because I asked for it, at the right time.

“Freed from a South African jail after 27 years as a political prisoner, Mandela received me for an hour in his Johannesburg office. The interview was memorable for me because he was articulate, engaging, reassuring — and he had a message to deliver. If his Black African Congress party won the forthcoming national elections, Western business people, Mandela said, need not fear what a black government would bring to South Africa. Mandela made clear to me that he would not nationalize or expropriate their investments.”

Read more here. Here’s an interview I did with Loeb earlier this year.