Sequoia Capital Managing Partner to Step Down Due to Illness

Michael Moritz, one of Silicon Valley’s most prominent investors, will be reducing his role for health reasons.

Michael Moritz, one of Silicon Valley’s most successful investors, is stepping back from some of his day-to-day duties at Sequoia Capital due to an unidentified illness, Bloomberg Businessweek reports.

Moritz has invested in some of the most successful companies of the modern tech era, including Google, LinkedIn, PayPal, and Yahoo. He made his announcement via a letter sent to limited partners on Monday morning, Businessweek reports.

In it, he wrote:

I have been diagnosed with a rare medical condition which can be managed but is incurable. I’ve been told that in the next five to ten years the quality of my life is quite likely to decline. Right now I feel fitter than ever and I hope that I’ll be one of the lucky ones who can live a full life and defy the statisticians. But there is no way of predicting this with certainty and thus for me life has assumed a different meaning and I am making some adjustments.

Sequoia said Moritz will roll back his duties around regulatory compliance and recruiting, but will continue to make new investments and mentor start-ups, Businessweek reports. –John McDermott