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Class of 1947 Celebrates Fifty Years as Fellows
by Matthew Rodermund with updates provided by M. Stanley Hughey
The CAS Fellowship class of 1947 is going to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary this year. There were nine members, of whom I am proud to be one fthere were only eight fifty-year CAS Fellows from 1936 to 1942, and none from 1943 to 1946.
The 1947 class has been rather estimable in terms of its service to the CAS, as will be seen when its members are introduced. Eight of us are still alive (Ed Allen died in 1993). In 1972, five of us gathered for our 25th reunion. On that occasion I read some doggerel I had composed for each member of the class, and it might be well here to identify the members of the group by repeating the same doggerel.
Ed Allen was editor of the Proceedings and Yearbook from 1955 through 1958. He retired from the Travelers Insurance Companies (now Travelers Property Casualty Corporation) in Hartford, Connecticut in 1980.
Way back in the fifties, when our class was still young,
They drafted Ed Allen for the Editor's rung.
So a toast is in order for one of the tenants
Of a job of great honor, and even more penance.
Loring (Jim) Barker came from the Fireman's Fund and served on many CAS committees. Fully retired and living in the San Francisco area, Jim has done extensive travel in Europe. He has been active in his local church and has participated in several Elder Hostels. He currently loves sports as a spectator and tends his garden.
Here's to Jim Barker of the Fireman's Fund,
Whose diploma says 'Loring,' a name he has shunned.
But as Loring or Jim, he's persuaded his bosses
That woes by any other name are still losses.
M. Stanley Hughey became president of the CAS in 1974, after many other responsibilities in the Society, including general chairman of the CAS Education and Examination Committee from 1969 through 1971. He was with the Kemper Insurance Group. Having given up on cold weather, Stan is living a life of full retirement in Naples, Florida. Stan enjoys extensive travel and occasional visits with extended family. He also takes in some golf and bridge, but is mostly active in church operations.
For Stan Hughey the point of our toast is self-evident,
He'll honor our class by becoming Vice President.
And he'll bring to his office some subtle refinements
If he ignores his eight classmates for committee assignments.
Norman Rosenberg came to the CAS from New York, but he soon joined the Farmers Insurance Group in California. Norm has been retired since 1978 and is living in Beverly Hills, California. Norman did some pro bono work but is taking it easy now. He took an interesting trip through the Balkans shortly before they erupted in political turmoil. His interest in sports is through a 12-year-old grandson who is mightily involved.
Now together let's lift a glass of fresh frozen
Orange juice to rhyme our salute to Norm Rosen-
berg, who, for some years, was the sole actuary in all of Los Angeles-
He couldn't even find a few reasonable facsimiles.
John Rowell, who has always been a consultant, finally settled in the Chicago area. John is still very active, working 10-12 hours per day operating an insurance brokerage firm with his son in Glencoe, Illinois. They work with personal clients in the field of retirement planning. JohnÕs outside activities include fishing and a senior citizens' bridge club.
Our salute to John Rowell has some explanation,
We toast a person of discrimination.
(The Rowells don't speak to the Babbitts, we guess,
And the Babbitts know nothing of God) we digress-
John's talents are employed by Marlennan these days,
As a man in the middle he earns our oles.
Ruth Salzmann became CAS President in 1978, the first woman president of an American actuarial society, including the Society of Actuaries. At the time of her Fellowship she was in the Hardware Mutual Casualty of Wisconsin (now the Sentry). She later became one of the famous actuarial team under Laurence Longley-Cook at the Insurance Company of North America, and later moved back to the Sentry, in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. Ruth is enjoying retirement in Wisconsin, including the winter season. She recently completed a paper on "Allocated Loss Adjusting Expense" (see the 1996 Proceedings). As a bit of advice from the elder generation, Ruth suggests that allocated loss adjusting expense is the most underreserved area in the statement! Still doing some consulting, Ruth serves on two boards of directors and plays tennis regularly.
Now a toast and a curtsy to Salzmann, Ruth.
Long before women's lib we had Ruth and forsooth,
Her colleagues can't fault her financial endeavor,
Nor beat her in tennis or golf or whatever.
Dunbar Uhthoff was active in all kinds of CAS activities. He also came to the CAS from New York, but went soon to the Employers Insurance Company of Wausau, Wisconsin (now it's the Wausau Company). The Actuarial Review was unable to catch up with Dunbar for a personal report on his current activities. However, his friends tell us that he is fully retired and living in Lees Summit, Missouri, a suburb of Kansas City.
The trouble with Uhthoff is finding a rhyme,
But "Hats off to Uhthoff!" is right any time.
He talks actuarial, but Dunbar's disarming
His mission to Wausau was really for farming.
John W. (Bill) Wieder, Jr. was general chairman of the CAS Examination Committee from 1952 through 1956. He spent his business life at the Aetna, and now lives in Glastonbury, Connecticut. Bill has been active since his retirement in 1981 serving several years as administrator for a large church and as treasurer for Habitat for Humanity. More recently his time has been taken up with Elder Hostels, cruises, and bridge.
We drink to John Wieder, or shall we say Bill?
Just five years a Fellow, they noted his skill,
He was chosen to manage our examinations
And may have got his bald pate from the great aggravations.
I was editor of the Proceedings and Yearbook from 1965 through 1969, and became the first editor of the Actuarial Review in 1974. I held the editorship job through 1989, although I had retired from the Munich American Reinsurance Company, New York, in 1981. I came to the CAS from New York and now live in Medford, New Jersey.
Last on the list is Rodermund, Matt.
It's been said here and there that he strains at a gnat
In trying to prove, that from cradle to coffin
All actuaries are funny, but not very often.
The 25th reunion ended on this:
Let's drink now to all of us, our brains and our charm,
May the saints who watch actuaries preserve us from harm.
If the next quarter century is kind to us all,
We'll do this again but with less alcohol!
And for eight of us, the saints have watched, but we won't be able to get together. It was a good group, and we've been lucky.