Prolific Insurance Exec, Author Jack Bogardus Dies At 92

By Staff Reports

Prolific insurance executive and author John (Jack) A. Bogardus Jr., 92, died June 28 in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Bogardus’ entire business career was spent with Alexander & Alexander Services (A&A) where he helped take the company public in 1969. He subsequently served as president and CEO and ultimately, chairman.

Including time as a director of the company (1963-95), his career with A&A spanned 45 years. A&A became part of AON Corp. in 1996, creating the world’s largest insurance brokerage.

Bogardus served as a director of the Insurance Brokers Association of New York and a director and chairman of the governing committee of the National Association of Insurance Brokers. He was a member of the US Chamber of Commerce Insurance Committee; a board member of the American Institute for Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters and of the Insurance Institute of America. Bogardus also served on the boards of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, Inc.; United States Surgical Corp.; and Security Capital Corp.

After retirement, Bogardus relied on decades of business experience to co-author Spreading the Risks: Insuring the American Experience. This seminal book details how the insurance industry evolved through disasters and economic transformations into the twenty-first century.

Bogardus spent 13 years researching and writing Spreading the Risks, published in 2003. It won a Washington Book Publishers' Award that year and in 2004 was named a Risk Management Book of the Year.

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Joseph Ellis called the book, “A paradoxical and fascinating story -- of how the boisterous energies of the marketplace were rendered safer, how risk-taking became more prudent, how the economic jungle was tamed."

In a 2005 interview, Bogardus said, “There was no single book that adequately covered the story of America's insurance agents and brokers. I thought, who is going to do this? Then, when I gained access to unpublished material, I realized if I didn't do it, it might never get done."

Bogardus is survived by his wife of 70 years, Lela. She and Bogardus met while he was serving in the Navy from 1945-47 and Lela was a figure skater performing with “Ice Capades.” They were married in Tulsa, Okla. in June 1950, days before his graduation from Princeton University.

Bogardus is also survived by their four children: John, Stephen, James and Janet, a sister, seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Due to COVID-19, no memorial events are currently planned. Donations may be made in Bogardus’ memory to Alzheimer's Research Foundation or a favorite charity.