Milestones Marked
Paul Robert Olshen (pictured right), former leader of the CIBGNY and scion of an insurance family that included his father Henry, also a past leader of CIBGNY, passed away on March 1st.
A native of Brooklyn and a graduate of Erasmus Hall High School and NYU “in the heights,” he was a proud member of Tau Epsilon Phi fraternity. Paul worked as an insurance broker for 57 years. He started his career at Henry B. Olshen and Associates then moved to Brokerage Resources Incorporated, PRO Consultants Inc., Dewitt Stern Imperatore, Ltd, and most recently Capacity Coverage Co. A long-time resident of Livingston, New Jersey, Paul served on the Livingston Planning Board for many years. He was a founding member of Livingston’s Recycling Initiative and was instrumental in running the original recycling program in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Paul was a longtime member of Temple Beth Shalom in Livingston, N.J. He was actively involved for many years including serving as an officer of the synagogue. In recent years, Paul has been an active member of Kiwanis. He served as the President of the Kiwanis Club of Livingston and as Lieutenant Governor of Kiwanis New Jersey Division 7. He is survived by Vivian Cohen Olshen, his wife of 57 years, his brother Barry Olshen, his children Lisa & Richard Adelsohn and Andrew & Michelle Olshen, and his grandchildren Emily, David, and Breyanna. Paul was a friend as was his father to the brokerage community and to this writer and will be missed.… Al Grossman, a longtime member and volunteer for the IIAANY, passed away some weeks ago. Al was a legendary instructor for Big I in commercial lines. He was also instrumental in launching and advancing Project InVest in New York state. He wrote the IIAANY’s 1982 100th Year Commemorative Book with this writer and was a strong intellectual presence for many years in the business. He was also very involved at the national IIAA and was the recipient of its prestigious Dach Award. He leaves his wife Erie and son Gene. Here was a true exponent of the business. RIP.… Insurance Advocate columnist Barry Zalma is in print. After practicing insurance law for over five decades, Barry is releasing multiple education books on Amazon.com. Designed to inform claims people, special investigation unit investigators, and insurance defense and coverage lawyers on insurance claims and insurance fraud, the publications leverage key insights and learnings from his 50+ years of practical experience as a claims person and insurance coverage attorney. Zalma told us, “To be an insurance professional requires continuous learning. That’s the motivation behind my writing; I have felt a need to share my experiences to help claims personnel, SIU investigators and claims counsel learn how to properly and thoroughly investigate insurance claims and avoid accusations that they committed the tort of bad faith.” To view all publications that can be purchased through Amazon as Paperback and Kindle e-books, visit Zalma’s author page or zalma.com/zalma-books/.… The Empire Center has hope that six concentrations will make the State of New York a better business place: Based on key measures of growth and competitiveness, New York has been losing ground for decades—failing to keep up with national economic trends and exporting millions of residents to other states.
The initial checklist of policy priorities focuses on areas in which national rankings show that New York is a national outlier—where needed reforms would reduce the state’s cost burdens and improve its climate for growth:
1. Keep cutting taxes
• Phase out the temporary “millionaire tax” surcharge
• Adjust personal income tax brackets to reflect inflation
• Eliminate the inequitable rate “cliff” in the estate tax
• Make the property tax cap permanent
2. Curb health care costs
• Roll back health insurance taxes and excessive provider subsidies
• Raise the bar on Medicaid reform
• End price controls and mandates on health insurance
• Reform oversight of medical malpractice
• Remove barriers to competition in the health-care marketplace
3.
Control public employee compensation
• Repeal the Triborough Amend-ment’s longevity pay guarantee
• Cap binding arbitration awards to police and firefighter unions
• Require health insurance contributions from public employees
• Enact needed pension reforms
4. Reduce the job creation toll
• Suspend multi-year minimum wage hikes
• Repeal expanded salaried overtime rules
• Reform the workers’ compensation system
5. Adopt pro-growth energy policies
• Reform the PSC and scrap its undemocratic mandates
• Address electricity transmission challenges
• Reconcile the state’s conflicting policies on natural gas
6. Streamline state development regulations
• Adopt binding time limits for the SEQR process
• Increase predictability of impact “scoping”
• Define local community “character” based on local land-use laws
Say “yes” six times and vote accordingly.
