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The American insurance industry had an early champion inBenjamin Franklin. Though best known as a colorful statesman,signer of the Declaration of Independence and inventor, he also wasinstrumental in establishing the country's first incorporated fireinsurance company, The Philadelphia Contributionship for theInsurance of Houses from Loss by Fire, in 1752.

Franklin's interest in fire insurance was sparked by personalexperience, and he once advised a friend that, in case of fire,“You may be forced [as I was] to leap out of windows and hazardyour neck to avoid being over roasted.” Many insurance industryleaders of the past 80 years may have been less flamboyant thanFranklin, but their contributions are just as significant. Here's alist of some of the most notable.

William DavidWinter
An authority and innovator in the field ofmarine insurance, William David Winter in 1919 authored “MarineInsurance: Its Principles and Practice,” the definitive text on thesubject. As cofounder and chairman of the American Cargo War RiskExchange during World War II, he guided the marine insuranceindustry, stressing the importance of writing insurance to valueand applying deductibles to package forms. He spent most of hiscareer with Atlantic Mutual Insurance, where he served aspresident.

S. Bruce Black
Aspresident of Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. from 1924 to 1956, Blackwas an early proponent of the view that loss prevention is anintegral part of the insurance process that provides economic andsocial benefits for business and society as a whole. He pushedprograms to improve industrial safety and rehabilitation of injuredworkers, which became a humane and cost-effective element ofworkers' compensation.

Edwin W. Patterson
Dr. Edwin Patterson was the major force in the 1939 codification ofNew York's insurance law, acknowledged as the model for many stateinsurance codes, which emphasized a balanced relationship betweenthe regulator and the regulated. Patterson strongly believed inprotecting the public from the abuses of undercapitalized insuranceventures and poorly managed insurers, and also believed thatprospective insurance entrepreneurs be made aware of the rules andforced into a position of strength before being licensed. Stayingtrue to his conviction, he demanded that the code be prepared inits entirety and then be presented to the insurance industry forits review and comment. In this way, those being regulated couldsee the full implication of the proposed legislation and comment onits impact on companies' operations.

Harry Loman
Whenthe American Institute for CPCU was founded in 1942, through thecombination of business and university efforts, insurance professorDr. Harry J. Loman, of The Wharton School of the University ofPennsylvania in Philadelphia, served as the first dean. Under hisleadership, all segments of the property/casualty insuranceindustry joined together to promote technical competence andethical behavior, resulting in the development of the CharteredProperty Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) professional designationprogram. It was the first program to establish academic, experienceand ethics requirements for a professional designation in propertyand casualty insurance.

Senators Patrick McCarran &Homer Ferguson
Nevada Senator Patrick McCarran, aDemocrat, and Michigan Senator Homer Ferguson, a Republican,co-authored the McCarran-Ferguson Act in 1945, a far-reaching billthat clarified the power of individual states to regulate insuranceand limited application of many federal statutes to the insuranceindustry. McCarran also was a staunch anti-Communist during thepost-war years, while Ferguson co-sponsored the bill that added thewords “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance.

Maurice “Hank” R.Greenberg
In 1962, American International Groupfounder Cornelius Vander Starr named Hank Greenberg the head ofAIG's failing North American holdings. In 1968, Starr pickedGreenberg as his successor. As chairman and chief executive ofAmerican International Group (AIG), the fiercely competitiveGreenberg drove his company like a steamroller, plowing over otherinsurers to become an insurance-financial behemoth. Under hiswatch, AIG also unfortunately became the poster child foraccounting irregularities and bid-rigging, which forced his ousterin 2005. It was during this period that AIG amassed thecredit-default swaps in its AIG Financial Products unit that blewup in 2008, leading to a $170 billion federal bailout of AIG.Today, at 84, Greenberg heads C.V. Starr & Co. In an industryof relatively subdued personalities, the larger-than-life Greenberghas stood out as a man with a loud voice who wants to be heard.Jack Byrne
JackByrne's 55-year career in the insurance industry is marked by hisrescue of Geico Insurance from the brink of disaster after assumingchairmanship of the almost-insolvent company in 1976. He enactedtough cost-control measurers: re-underwriting the entire book ofbusiness, increasing rates, obtaining temporary reinsurance reliefand receiving backing for an additional capital infusion. Heperformed a similar feat for Fireman's Fund in 1985, fixing thebalance sheet by increasing reserves and refocusing the investmentoperations on total return rather than income. Allianz purchasedalmost all of Fireman's Fund in 1991, leaving Fund American, nowknown as White Mountains Insurance Group, a Bermuda company withheadquarters in New Hampshire, that has purchased other companiessuch as Esurance and OneBeacon. Eliot Spitzer
EliotSpitzer proved that the “bully pulpit” isn't just for first-tierofficials when he used his position as New York Attorney General touncover corruption and fraud up and down the insurance stream.After taking the mutual fund industry to task, he started on theproperty-casualty insurance industry in 2004. Spitzer's chargesthat broker Marsh & McClennan accepted payment from and engagedin bid-rigging with insurers without the knowledge of payingclients gave the industry a black eye and hurt some major players.It also raised the question of contingency commissions for brokersand agents at a time when their revenue streams were particularlyvulnerable. After a successful run for governor in 2006, Spitzerself-destructed when a scandal of his own as the reputed client ofa prostitution ring drove him from office. J. Robert Hunter
Actuary J. Robert Hunter has spent most of his 50-year career inthe insurance industry as one of its most active critics. He's beenadministrator of the Federal Insurance Administration, president ofthe National Insurance Consumer Organization, insurancecommissioner for the State of Texas, consultant and long-termdirector of insurance for the Consumer Federation of America. Alongthe way, he has testified against almost every proposal of theinsurance industry, often supplying data and models whose accuracyand validity are challenged by industry groups. Recently, Hunterhas been urging repeal of the McCarran-Ferguson Act.