Zurich North America will donate former President Franklin D. Roosevelt's desk to the Presidential Library and Museum this President's Day to commemorate the insurer's 100th anniversary. FDR used the desk during his employment at Fidelity & Deposit Co. prior to his presidency.
FDR was one of the few presidents with an insurance background. He served as vice president for Zurich and board member for F&D (now a Zurich-owned company) from 1920 to 1928, based out of F&D's Wall Street office. During the economic downturn of 1920, FDR worked to insure large infrastructure projects, according to Bruce Weindruch, founder and CEO of The History Factory.
Roosevelt helped F&D grow substantially in his 8-year employment. "In one year alone…the underwriting jumps about 42 percent," Weindruch said. "This is driven by Roosevelt's connections and understanding of certain kinds of business, which was kind of this quasi-private work."
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader
Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
