Jack Bogle is a giant in the investment industry, and for all the right reasons.

Recently, I had the opportunity to meet with Mr. Bogle, the founder of the investment management company Vanguard, at his office in Malvern, Pa., in the suburbs of Philadelphia.

As we sat down in his office, I admired the artifacts depicting Admiral Horatio Nelson and his dispatch of the HMS Vanguard — from which the company derives its name — in the Battle of the Nile.

It’s been a lifelong dedication of Bogle to put investors first, not profits. Vanguard aims at keeping expenses at a minimum, and its fees low. Profits are returned to shareholders in the form of even lower management fees. Jack continues to adhere to this mission, having recently replaced the chair in his office, but only after it had broken.

Bogle began our conversation in his wise and warm grandfatherly tone of voice: “Indexing is the only way to capture your fair share of the market.”

Bogle started the first index fund at Vanguard in 1976. Initially coined “Bogle’s Folly,” many thought indexing to be “un-American.” A poster still hangs on his wall depicting Uncle Sam with the words “Help Stamp Out Index Funds.”

Forty years later, only Bogle is laughing.

“Wall Street didn’t like index funds because they couldn’t make any money,” he said, referring to the high fees they could not charge.

Bogle has long declared that investors as a group earn the stock market’s returns, minus the fees. He says, “For every smart stock-picker, there is a dumb stock-picker ... the math is the math.”

I was eager to share with him Butler County’s indexing success for its pension fund, besting the largest public pension plans in Pennsylvania in recent net-of-fee investment performance.

Bogle didn’t seem surprised in the least as he politely pivoted the discussion. “I remember when Vanguard could not sell an account without providing the actively managed Magellan Fund,” he quipped. It was easy to sense the frustration in his voice. Fidelity’s Magellan Fund had consistently doubled the S&P 500 index, and Jack knew these returns would not last.

And they did not. Shortly after leaving Fidelity, the Fund’s star manager, Peter Lynch, told an investment magazine, “Most investors would be better off in an index fund.”

Our conversation ensued and covered topics ranging from some of his recent speeches to the election of President-elect Donald Trump. But like many good things in life, our meeting had to come to an end.

Before leaving, while Bogle was signing a copy of his book, “The Clash of Cultures” — the first investment book I had ever read — he looked up and remarked, “Now when the market outperforms, the index funds will outperform; but when the market underperforms, so will the index funds.” He resumed writing and said, “Stay the course,” signing “John C. Bogle.”

Isaac Newton, who anecdotally lost a fortune while chasing stock in the 18th century South Sea Company, once said, “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”

Thank you Mr. Bogle, for letting us stand on yours.

Ben Holland is the Butler County controller and secretary of the Butler County Employees Retirement System.