NAPSLO Founder Blodgett Remembered as Relationship Builder

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January 19, 2010 Tuesday 02:43 PM EST

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NAPSLO Founder Blodgett Remembered as Relationship Builder

Chad Hemenway

WALNUT, Calif.

People did business with A. Mason Blodgett for two reasons: they liked him and they trusted him.

"People in this business talk about how relationships really matter," said Bernd G. Heinze, executive director of the American Association of Managing General Agents. "Mr. Blodgett epitomized that philosophy. At events he was always networking -- dashing from one person to the other. He'd read your badge and recognize your name from an event 15 years ago."

A. Mason Blodgett died on Jan. 14 after having spent more than 70 years in the insurance industry. He was 94. Blodgett retired in 2007.

Blodgett in 1966 opened surplus lines broker and managing general agent, Cambridge General Agency in Walnut, Calif. He was an active member of AAMGA since 1958 and was also one of the founders of the National Association of Professional Surplus Lines Offices Ltd.

"He was always a contributor," said Richard M. Bouhan, executive director of NAPSLO since 1987, of Blodgett. "He took pride in the success of the association and in his role in founding it. He was just a fine gentleman -- no ego."

Bouhan said Blodgett gave him all his notes of early NAPSLO board meetings. "He wanted us to do well," Bouhan said. "He was always genuinely interested and you had to respect the incredible knowledge he had."

Blodgett started in the insurance industry in the early 1930s with "Little Aetna," and joined Automobile Mutual in the late 1930s. He opened the western region in San Francisco for Automobile Mutual when he returned from World War II, where he served as an officer in the Army Air Corps. In 1956, he formed A. Mason Blodgett & Associates, a leading retail agency in San Francisco.

"He seemed to have a streak of independence in him," said Bouhan. "He had a number of incarnations and was successful in them all, but the thing about him was he so eager to share what he knew."

Blodgett was also eager to learn, said Heinze. The industry veteran would attend many AAMGA University classes and raise his hand to ask questions.

"He'd ask how conditions today could be compared to the Great Depression or the Roman and Byzantine Empires," said Heinze. "He took all the young folks under his arm to really give them a practical perspective of what they were learning. He was a great contributor. He was an icon."

In Blodgett's memory, his family asks donations be made to the AAMGA Educational Foundation.

(By Chad Hemenway, associate editor, BestWeek: [email protected])

January 20, 2010