From left, Charles Winward, Angela Leach, Sarah Buxton and Greg Smith celebrate after scaling the United Kingdom’s Scafell Peak, the second

Few would doubt that climbing a mountain is a demanding endeavour. Try climbing three in one day.

“We wanted a physical test and we love the great outdoors, and the Three Peaks Challenge combines those into a very tough challenge,” avid athlete Greg Smith told the Advertiser July 14 from his London home.

On June 19, Smith and a team of his friends climbed three of the United Kingdom’s toughest mountains in just 24 hours for a charity across the pond. The Mikey Czech Foundation, a New Canaan charity, has received $5,000 (as of early July) in donations stemming from the team’s completion of the challenge.

Marquette University Class Notes Profiles

By Nicole Sweeney Etter

Steve Czech, Bus Ad ’86, launched his first hedge fund in 2003 with a laptop, Rolodex and 15 years of contacts in the investment banking industry.

Four and a half years later, he’d built his fund’s value to nearly $400 million.

Czech says, “My expertise consists of identifying situations that are very difficult, very challenging, that no one wants to invest in becausethey are so difficult and challenging — but they’re extremely lucrative.”

He started his career in commercial and investment banking. After earning his M.B.A. from the University of Chicago, he became intrigued by hedge funds.

“Hedge funds became a meaningful component of the financial landscape, and they provided me with the kind of investment flexibility I was interested in pursuing,” he says.

Czech works 80 to 100 hours a week as chief investment officer and senior portfolio manager of Gottex-SJC Capital LLC, his second hedge fund. He closed down his first fund when his 11-year-old son was diagnosed with a rare, inoperable brain tumor in January 2008 so he could accompany him through the grueling treatments. Mikey Czech died nine months later.

Now Czech applies his entrepreneurial energy toward finding a cure for rare pediatric brain cancers. He and his wife, Jennifer, created the Mikey Czech Foundation with a goal of raising $6 million to create a world-leading neuro-oncology research laboratory in New York City. Because Mikey’s tumor type affects only 150 kids a year and can’t be biopsied, research for a cure is virtually non-existent.

Czech is committed to changing that. After all, he made a promise to his son. “The next time I see him, whenever that is, I want to be able to look him in the eye and tell him we eradicated this hideous disease,” he says.

• The Saxe Middle School honored Mikey with a two-page tribute in its yearbook.
• We wish to thank everyone at Saxe for their efforts on our behalf. Saxe has been nothing short of wonderful with respect to how they have treated us and handled what was an extraordinarily difficult situation.

• The South School of New Canaan Student Leadership Committee (the “Committee”) is a group comprised of several hard-working and enthusiastic students who set up and run the South School Store. The Committee is headed by Beth Peckham, a teacher at South School.
• The Committee met before school ended this year and decided they wanted to make a donation to an organization in our community. The Committee voted and decided to make a donation to The Mikey Czech Foundation.
• The donation was presented to Steve Czech at South School on Thursday, June 11th, 2009.
• We wish to thank Beth Peckham and the faculty & staff of South School for their efforts on our behalf.