Phonefagging- heard the term ‘gatekeeper’ all morning. Saw this- not sure if it’s been seen before

David Blitzer — a stock-market indexing icon — is retiring at the end of August, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices, after nearly a quarter-century of picking the stocks that make up America’s most closely followed equity benchmarks.

Blitzer, who has overseen the composition of the S&P 500 index SPX+0.55% and the 123-year-old Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA+0.3% for years, is considered a luminary among those who follow indexing — the selection of individual stocks (or other assets) in a benchmark.

The 70-year-old has led the S&P’s stock committee that has helped to determine the makeup of S&P 500 and Dow, with some $10 trillion in exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, pegged to the S&P 500, allowing mom- and-pop investors to cheaply and efficiently gain exposure to the stock market in popular products like the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY+0.54% and the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust DIA+0.28%

Exchange-traded fund focused website ETF.com in a 2015 Q&A referred to Blitzer as one of the “legends of indexing.” And a 2017 Wall Street Journal article called him the “gatekeeper of the S&P 500.”

Average folks, however, may have trouble ID’ing the financial professional, known for his signature bow tie, in a lineup of Wall Street’s Who’s Who.

Blitzer acknowledged as much to MarketWatch in a phone interview on Tuesday, saying that he’s heard the “legend” characterization bandied about in reference to his spot in the investing pantheon, along with the likes of Vanguard founder Jack Bogle, the father of ETFs and passive investing.

“I’m not quite sure what it means to be a legend,” he said. “To be mentioned as somewhat in the same sentence [as Jack Bogle] is very nice and much appreciated and a credit to everyone at S&P,” he said.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-legendary-gatekeeper-of-the-stock-marketwhose-picks-dictated-trillions-in-etf-holdings-is-retiring-2019-04-02