Marty Whitman, the octogenarian dean of deep-value investing, sees great bargains to be snapped up from the current stock market meltdown. "It's a great time," enthused the 83-year-old founder of New York-based Third Avenue Management LLC before speaking yesterday at a conference organized by AIC Ltd.

Brookfield took over the company where my Dad works (Longview Fibr) and from what he's told me they're all about cash flow and finding things that are undervalued, here's a good article on their principles.

Following the great hedge funds such as Baupost, Greenlight, Tiger, and Okumus has led to high historical returns. A tracking portfolio of the top funds is up over 11% YTD.

GuruFocus just updated its information on Marty Whitman's holdings. Whitman runs Third Avenue Value Fund. Since inception (November 1990) the fund has delivered average annual returns of 16.78%.