After a long battle with cancer, John “Jack” Byrne, the manbillionaire Warren Buffett dubbed “the Babe Ruth of insurance” diedat his home in Etna, N.H. on March 7. He was 80 yearsold.

Byrne is widely considered a legend of insurance since thefinancially stability of three insurers can arguably be traced tohim. PropertyCasualty360-National Underwriter namedhim to a list of 25 Living Legends of Insurance last year.

Buffett's pride and joy, Geico, wasn't always the auto insurancemarket leader it is today. In fact, it was on the verge ofinsolvency when Buffett bought the company in the mid-1970s. Afterbeing passed up as president of Travelers, having worked himself upthe ladder from his start with the insurer as an actuary, Byrnetook the role of CEO at Geico on the advice of colleagues andregulators.

Of the decision, he told PC360-NU, “Looking back on it,I say, 'What a screwball I was to take that job.' Why would a soundman with a heavy mortgage and two kids in school take thatjob?”

Jack Byrne: Buffett's 'Babe'

But Byrne cemented his legendary status quickly by orchestratingone of the greatest comebacks in insurance history. He raised $75million in capital through a common-stock offering, obtainedreinsurance to cover a portion of the company's risks, and guidedGeico's book of business through an extensive re-underwriting andre-pricing initiative to not only save Buffett's first venture intothe insurance world, but make Geico very profitable. Within a yearof Byrne's arrival in 1976, Geico was in the black, and it remainsat the center of Buffett's Berkshire Hathawayempire.

After serving as the head of Geico for a decade, Byrne went onto become chairman of Fireman's Fund, which he took public in whatwas the largest initial public offering ever. Fireman's Fund wassold to Allianz Group in 1990, at which time Byrne convertedthe retained holding company assets into the White MountainsInsurance Group, now a Top-40 carrier.

Byrne told PC360-NU he might have been happy finishinghis career at Geico. But having achieved enormous success, “I keptlooking for new challenges,” he says. “I did not know how to behappy. Do you know a lot of 40-year-olds who know how to behappy?”

Completing an insurance career that began at his father'sinsurance agency in Wildwood, N.J., Byrne retired in 2007. Twoyears later he was inducted into the Insurance Hall ofFame.

An obituary from the Rand-Wilson Funeral Home of Hanover, N.H.says Byrne was surrounded by family when he died. Mass was to beheld today, followed by a private burial.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that contributions be madeto Palliative Care at Norris Cotton Cancer Center or the UpperValley Haven.