Let’s not boast, but…

In this issue of the Insurance Advocate, Steve Ruchman uses the word mensch which now possesses the universal meaning of “stand up guy”. This is not an expression new to insurance in these parts, given its provenance from the Yiddish quarters of New York. For many years, the insurance industry has been an unsung hero in the provision of aid and benefit to so many people of so many stripes, through grants, scholarships and just overall generosity that the application seems a fitting one again and again. To prove my point, below the photo of C. Edward (Chuck) Chaplin, President of MBIA, and Bill Fishlinger, President of WRM America, receiving honors from the College of Mt. St. Vincent for their generosity and their work supporting the college’s scholarship fund, I dug up a picture from December 25, 1943 edition of the Insurance Advocate that I happened to come upon some time ago when I was looking for old fashioned WWII Christmas news. In the picture, you will see that American Surety presented a $25,000.00 check – remember the year was 1943 – to establish an Insurance Education Fund. This is typical of the generosity that the two gentlemen honored by Mt. St. Vincent at the New York Public Library displayed and should be a rallying point for the industry. We just don’t toot our horns enough, because, as generous people the last thing you want to do is wear that generosity out in public – it seems always to detract from it. Insurance people usually need to be persuaded to be recognized and that’s nice up to a point. The industry has expected its good work to stand on its own and be recognized by the general public. Somehow, someone, somewhere will devise a means of getting this word across without being bragadaccio. For now, the Insurance Advocate will continue to feature such generous people as Bill Fishlinger and Chuck Chaplin and will reach back to remember those who did so in the past to say: “Thank you for your generosity. You make us all look go