When the names of great investors are bandied about, Peter Lynch, Warren Buffett and Benjamin Graham are usually foremost among them. However, Louis Rukeyser made an equally significant contribution to the success of individual investors. Lynch and Buffett created investment strategies that continue to generate profits for investors, but Mr. Rukeyser gave investors the knowledge and guidance to actually implement investment strategies successfully.

Although Mr. Rukeyser was best known as a financial journalist, he began his career as a political and foreign correspondent for both the Baltimore Sun and the Baltimore Evening Sun. In 1965, he joined ABC News, eventually becoming their first chief economics correspondent after stints serving as the network’s Paris correspondent and London bureau chief. But Mr. Rukeyser’s big break came in 1970 when Maryland Public Television began airing Wall $treet Week with Mr. Rukeyser as its host.

His success was based on an uncanny ability to make complex financial topics comprehensible to the average person. In 1980, he told a New York Times reporter that he approached his show as though he were, “. . . talking to one person, whom I regard as intelligent, with a good sense of humor but not all that technically knowledgeable.” Nevertheless, he featured a number of technically knowledgeable guests over the years, such as Alan Greenspan, John Kenneth Galbraith and Paul Volcker, all of whom he gently prodded into explaining the market in terms that the general public could understand. At the same time, he incorporated his wry sense of humor and quick wit into the show in such as way as to keep viewers both informed and entertained.

Wall $treet Week was on the air for 32 years before production ended in 2002. At its height, more than 2 million households tuned into the show each week, which meant that Mr. Rukeyser reached an even wider audience than the Wall Street Journal. Back then, the Friday night ritual in many households–including my own–was to have dinner and then settle in to watch Wall $treet Week. Louis Rukeyser became such a fixture of American culture that he frequently appeared on best-dressed lists, was described by People magazine as “the dismal science’s only sex symbol” and even had a cameo appearance in a feature film. His annual investment conferences attracted thousands of people, with a peak attendance of more than 9,000.

In order to further his goal of bringing quality financial journalism and commentary to main street America, Mr. Rukeyser launched Louis Rukeyser’s Wall Street in 1992, followed by Louis Rukeyser’s Mutual Funds in 1994. In a testament to his enduring legacy, both newsletters remained in publication after his death in 2006.

But tastes and habits inevitably change. Due to Mr. Rukeyser’s influence on financial media, there are now at least four cable networks that cover the financial markets 24 hours a day, a plethora of investment magazines and newspapers and an endless wealth of financial data on the Internet. The financial journalism field has become extremely crowded and investors are increasingly looking for actionable advice rather than colorful commentary.

In such a diverse media landscape, we’ve made the difficult, but necessary, decision to conclude publication of Louis Rukeyser’s Mutual Funds. The investment world has changed, and new frontiers of opportunity–such as exchange-traded funds–have opened to investors. Consequently, mutual-fund focused publications have grown increasingly ill-suited to meet the needs of investors navigating treacherous and fast-moving events. Of course, mutual funds remain an integral part of investors’ portfolios, so we’ll continue to cover them among our mix of recommendations in some of our other publications.

We recognize that you might have time left on your subscription to Louis Rukeyser’s Mutual Funds and we won’t abandon our commitment to you. These are difficult times for investors and the global economy. The US is mired in slow growth and high unemployment. Europe teeters on the brink as a sovereign debt crisis threatens to spread from the periphery to the Continent’s core. In these turbulent times, it’s more important than ever to have sound financial guidance and level-headed analysis of the economy. To that end, you will receive a letter that explains how to transfer your subscription to one of Investing Daily’s other newsletters for the remainder of your subscription term.

It has been our privilege and pleasure to serve you for the past 17 years. We look forward to continuing our relationship with you and, true to Mr. Rukeyser’s goal, helping you achieve financial security.

Parting Advice

Market volatility is approaching levels last seen at the height of the 2008-09 financial crisis, whipsawing investors’ portfolios, as they alternate between embracing risk in high-flying equities and seeking shelter in government bonds. Given the high volatility, economic malaise and growing political uncertainty on both sides of the Atlantic, it can be awfully tempting to bail out of the markets altogether.

But investing requires extraordinary patience and the fortitude to buck conventional wisdom. Most investors can’t resist piling into bull-market peaks, while few investors are brave enough to venture back into stocks at bear-market bottoms. Over the long term, however, it’s neither realistic nor necessary to call the market’s tops and bottoms. If you follow our time-tested advice of buying the least expensive mutual funds with the most experienced managers, you’ll be less likely to chase returns at peaks or flee from your investments at troughs. Instead, you’ll enjoy a portfolio that produces enviable returns through thick and thin.

And if you ever get discouraged, just remember what Louis Rukeyser said after Black Monday in 1987. “It’s just your money. It’s not your life. The figures on a broker’s report mean little compared to that. The people who loved you a week ago still love you today.”