Insurance Hall of Fame

The Insurance Hall of Fame, occasionally referred to as the International Insurance Hall of Fame, honors exceptional members of the insurance field. It was created in 1957 and is administered by the global nonprofit International Insurance Society (IIS), which was founded in 1965 and is based in New York City.

The Insurance Hall of Fame's museum and portrait gallery at the University of Alabama houses a collection of portraits and memorabilia of the laureates. A multimedia collection of laureate portraits, videos, and biographies are also housed in a gallery at St. John's University in New York City.

To qualify for inclusion in the Insurance Hall of Fame, nominees must be adjudged to have made a lasting contribution to the insurance industry. They also may have shown creative thinking and imaginative actions – starting trends, discovering new products or methods, or uncovering and resolving problems.

Each year a selection of candidates deemed to fulfill the Insurance Hall of Fame awards criteria is nominated by the Honors Nominating Committee of the International Insurance Society and selected by the IIS Executive Council. The International Insurance Society may also elect an individual posthumously.

History
The Insurance Hall of Fame was conceived and organized in 1957 by John S. Bickley, who was then professor of insurance at Ohio State University. It was sponsored by the Griffith Foundation for Insurance Education, which had its headquarters on the OSU campus. The Griffith Foundation for Insurance Education is a nonprofit educational corporation founded in 1947 at Ohio State University in memory of a young Columbus, Ohio insurance agent, Charles W. Griffith, who was killed in World War II; the foundation was affiliated with OSU until 1992.

Bickley, who continued to spearhead the Insurance Hall of Fame as its Chairman, later moved to the University of Texas, and then to the University of Alabama, where he had started his academic career.

In 1965 the Insurance Hall of Fame became international, appointing electors from 32 countries and voting on candidates from anywhere in the world. That year Bickley founded the International Insurance Society (IIS), based in New York City, as a forum where people involved in insurance could share their ideas and interests. The IIS encourages networking, academic pursuits, and education; it sponsors annual meetings, and funds research projects and awards. A committee of insurance industry leaders at IIS annually elects the inductees to the Insurance Hall of Fame – those who have made notable contributions to the insurance industry worldwide. As of 2019 the IIS includes electors from over 90 countries.

In 1987 the Insurance Hall of Fame's museum and portrait gallery moved to the University of Alabama, where Bickley taught. Space at the New York City-based International Insurance Society is too limited to display any but the current year's inductees. By 2010 the museum in Alabama had drawn over 250,000 visitors. The facility includes a portrait gallery of inductees through the years, a museum of insurance, and a lecture hall.

In 2003 an additional gallery was opened at St. John's University in New York City, which hosts a multimedia collection of laureate portraits, videos, and biographies. In 2004 the Insurance Hall of Fame launched its website, with lists and profiles of all inductees since its inception.

Nominees for the Insurance Hall of Fame are submitted by the IIS membership and evaluated for selection by the IIS Honors Committee, a body of senior insurance executives and academics. The nominees are then voted on by the IIS membership by secret ballot, which is tabulated and conducted by an independent auditing firm.

Insurance Hall of Fame laureates
Data is from Insurance Hall of Fame Laureates by Year of Induction.

1957

 * Elizur Wright - USA
 * Solomon S. Huebner - USA
 * Benjamin Franklin - USA

1958

 * Charles Evans Hughes - USA
 * Ralph H. Blanchard - USA

1959

 * Frederick H. Ecker - USA
 * Albert F. Dean - USA

1960

 * M. Albert Linton - USA
 * John A. Diemand, Sr. - USA

1961

 * Clarence Arthur Kulp - USA
 * Louis I. Dublin - USA

1962

 * John Marshall Holcombe, Jr. - USA
 * Alfred M. Best - USA

1963

 * Julian S. Myrick - USA
 * Sheppard Homans - USA

1964

 * William Leslie, Sr. - USA

1965

 * Ernst Froelich - Switzerland
 * Haley Fiske - USA
 * James Dodson - United Kingdom
 * Johan DeWitt - Netherlands
 * James G. Batterson - USA
 * Nicholas Barbon - United Kingdom

1966

 * Alfred Manes - Germany
 * Holgar J. Johnson - USA
 * Cuthbert Eden Heath - United Kingdom

1967

 * William David Winter - USA
 * Georges Tattevin - France
 * Edmond Halley - United Kingdom
 * Alfred N. Guertin - USA
 * Leighton Foster - Canada

1968

 * Arthur Hunter - USA
 * Joseph Arnould - India
 * Zachariah Allen - USA

1969

 * Charles J. Zimmerman - USA
 * Harry J. Loman - USA
 * Max E. Eisenring - Switzerland

1970

 * Tsuneta Yano - Japan
 * James Scott Kemper, Sr. - USA
 * Kenkichi Kagami - Japan
 * Hendon Chubb - USA
 * John Julius Angerstein - United Kingdom

1971

 * John F. Dryden - USA
 * Paul F. Clark - USA
 * Alois Alzheimer - Germany

1972

 * David McCahan - USA
 * Walter Arnold Dinsdale - United Kingdom

1973

 * Maurice Picard - France
 * Albert Henry Mowbray - USA

1974

 * Richard Price - United Kingdom
 * Cecil Edward Golding - United Kingdom
 * Harald Cramer - Sweden
 * Eugenio Artom - Italy

1975

 * Cornelius V. Starr - USA
 * Murray D. Lincoln - USA
 * J. Roger Hull - USA
 * Jacques Basyn - Belgium

1976

 * Otto von Bismarck - Germany
 * Edwin W. Patterson - USA
 * Gen Hirose - Japan

1978

 * Taizo Abe - Japan

1979

 * Herbert W. Heinrich - USA
 * Henry S. Beers - USA

1980

 * Joseph B. Maclean - USA
 * Andre Besson - France

1981

 * Antigono Donati - Italy

1982

 * Haruo Murase - Japan

1983

 * Ikunoshin Kadono - Japan

1984

 * B. K. Shah - India
 * Benjamin Rush - USA

1985

 * S. Bruce Black - USA

1986

 * Robert E. Dineen - USA
 * Jean-Baptiste Colbert - France

1987

 * Victor Dover - United Kingdom
 * Jorge Bande - Chile

1988

 * Alex Möller - Germany
 * John S. Bickley - USA
 * Robert A. Beck - USA

1989

 * Edwin S. Overman - USA
 * Maurice R. Greenberg - USA

1990

 * Douglas A. Barlow - Canada

1991

 * Alfred H. Pollard - Australia
 * Horst K. Jannott - Germany

1992

 * John E. Fisher - USA

1993

 * C. Arthur Williams - USA
 * Kenneth Black - USA

1994

 * Davis W. Gregg - USA

1995

 * Ronald M. Hubbs - USA
 * Willem de Wit - Netherlands

1996

 * Yong Ho Shin - South Korea
 * Robert F. McDermott - USA

1997

 * Alfonso Yuchengco - Philippines
 * Saburo Kawai - Japan

1998

 * Thomas Bassett Macaulay - Canada
 * José Maria De Delas Y Miralles - Spain
 * Hans Bühlmann - Switzerland

1999

 * George J. Mecherle - USA
 * Edwin A. G. Manton - USA
 * Claude Bébéar - France

2000

 * Jose Pinera - Chile
 * Hans Gerling - Germany

2001

 * Josei Itoh - Japan
 * Leo Goodwin, Sr. - USA
 * James C. H. Anderson - USA

2002

 * Lutgart Van den Berghe - Belgium
 * Aad Jacobs - Netherlands
 * Edison L. Bowers - USA

2003

 * Edmund Tse - Hong Kong
 * Clemente Cabello P. - Mexico

2004

 * Kees J. Storm - Netherlands
 * Takeo Inokuchi - Japan
 * Per M. Hansson - Norway

2005

 * William Meredith - Canada
 * Walter Kielholz - Switzerland
 * Ignacio Hernando de Larramendi - Spain

2006

 * Siegfried Sellitsch - Austria
 * Orio Giarini - Italy

2007

 * Frederic Reiss - Bermuda
 * José Manuel Martínez - Spain
 * Robert Clements - USA

2008

 * Patrick G. Ryan - USA
 * Professor G. S. Diwan - India
 * Dominic D'Alessandro - Canada

2009

 * Sir David Rowland - United Kingdom
 * Jack Byrne - USA

2010

 * Frank O'Halloran - Australia
 * William C. Greenough - USA

2011

 * Brian Duperreault - USA
 * Guy Carpenter - USA

2012

 * Ikuo Uno - Japan
 * Manuel Povoas - Brazil

2013

 * Robert Benmosche - USA

2014

 * Robert Kiln - United Kingdom
 * Denis Kessler - France

2015

 * Stephen Catlin - United Kingdom

2016

 * Donald Kramer - USA

2017

 * Nikolaus von Bomhard - Germany

2018

 * Shuzo Sumi - Japan

2019

 * Michael A. Butt - Bermuda

2021

 * Greig Woodring - USA

2022


 * Larry Zimpleman - USA

2023


 * Chang-Jae Shin - South Korea