Former Insurance Commissioner Dies [The Hartford Courant, Conn.]

July 21--Former Connecticut Insurance Commissioner Susan Cogswell died Tuesday. She was 57.

"Sue was Connecticut's first female insurance commissioner, and she served state residents well for many years," Gov. M. Jodi Rell said.

Cogswell was appointed by former Gov. John Rowland in June 2000. She succeeded George M. Reider Jr., and served as insurance commissioner until 2006, when Rell appointed current Commissioner Thomas R. Sullivan.

In 2006, Cogswell was hospitalized with a noncancerous tumor discovered above an ear.

Sullivan said Cogswell was a thoughtful and diligent regulator who was active in the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Cogswell chaired an accreditation committee at NAIC and also one of four regional subdivisions of commissioners called the Northeast Zone.

Cogswell was politically active in the Republican party in Torrington and Connecticut. She served several terms as a city council member in Torrington and was a member of the school board at the time of her death. She also served on the Republican Town Committee.

"All during my tenure she's been a mentor to me, a friend of the family for years and somebody I will miss and will never forget, said Torrington Mayor Ryan J. Bingham, who took office in 2005.

Cogswell worked as an assistant secretary in the surety division of Travelers Indemnity Co. in Hartford from 1983 to 1985. She was at Chase Manhattan Bank in New York before that, serving in several positions, among them second vice president of the municipal finance division. She also managed underwriting and placement of surety accounts as a vice president for the Hartford-based Woodland Brokers Ltd., a subsidiary of Covenant Mutual Insurance Co.

Cogswell joined the state Department of Insurance in 1995 as a customer service program manager. By the time she was appointed commissioner, the department had 180 employees and a $19.1 million budget.

Attempts to reach the Cogswell family Tuesday were not successful.

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