Burns & Wilcox Chief Dies
Herbert W. Kaufman, the president and chief executive officer of Burns & Wilcox Ltd. in Farmington Hills, Mich., passed away in mid-August, after a short illness. He was 76 years old.
Mr. Kaufman, a prominent and respected member of the excess and surplus lines community, began his career selling personal lines and business insurance more than 40 years ago.
Recognizing the need to provide coverage for more unique risks, he founded a wholesale brokerage operation in a single Michigan office to focus on the specialty insurance marketplace in 1969. Today, Burns & Wilcox Ltd. is the nations largest independently owned wholesaler and managing general agency, with more than 30 branch offices.
During his many interviews with National Underwriter, Mr. Kaufman expressed an obvious enthusiasm about the surplus lines business, sharing stories about insurance for everything from concerts and special events to property coverage insurance for vacant lots to liability coverage for microbreweries and tanning parlors.
Among his most memorable stories was one he told to demonstrate the creativity needed to be successful in the E&S marketa story about getting insurance for a man who was just starting out in the business of making bulletproof vests.
Listing the effort among his favorite successes, Mr. Kaufman explained that he directed the man to go to a suburban police department and have the policemen fire shots at him. Mr. Kaufman then had the chief of police sign a letter about the effectiveness of the vest that he took to the insurance company.
During another interview, which took place on the 25th anniversary of the National Association of Surplus Lines Offices, Mr. Kaufman proudly noted a change in the perception of surplus lines brokers–and the recognition of their "professionalism" by retail agents–as the greatest success of the industry.
He was a champion of educational efforts, who stressed the importance of recruiting and in-house training–practices which remain central to the Burns & Wilcox operation.
When Mr. Kaufman set aside time to speak with NU at last years September NAPSLO meeting, our reporter found him engaged in what a co-worker described as a frequent activitychecking a list of the birthdays of his 700 people. He said he intended to phone those with recent birthdays after the interview.
Stephen Allen, Burns & Wilcox executive vice president, recalled how Mr. Kaufman made everyone in the firm feel like members of his family, remembering their special occasions and helping them out when they fell on hard times.
"Relationships–personal relationships–are the key to this business," Mr. Kaufman told National Underwriter during his last interview.
Those wishing to honor the memory of Herbert W. Kaufman may do so by means of a contribution to one of the following funds: Herbert W. Kaufman Memorial Fund at Adat Shalom Synagogue, 29901 Middlebelt Rd., Farmington Hills, MI 48334; Kaufman Athletic Fund at Hillel Day School, 32200 Middlebelt Rd., Farmington Hills, MI 48334; Herbert W. Kaufman Educational Fund at Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit, 6735 Telegraph Rd., Bloomfield Hills, MI 48301.
Reproduced from National Underwriter Property & Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, September 3, 2001. Copyright 2001 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.