Some of the best mutual funds aren’t found amid the ranks of the big boys. They’re not listed in your daily newspaper, and they’re not offered in most company retirement plans. They’re small, family-run partnerships that invest their wealth alongside their clients. And they often make their mark with stocks that Wall Street shuns.

One such fund is the $5 million Corbin Small-Cap Value Fund, launched in 1992 by Fort Worth-based David A. Corbin ’89 as a sideline to his money-management business. Corbin’s fund, up 48 percent in 2001, buys tiny, fast-growing companies, such as Forgent and Titan Corp.

“We don’t have to have to own the third-best car company or Microsoft,” he told Business Week in its Dec. 17, 2001, issue. The fund was ranked No. 5 among all equity funds at the end of 2001.