Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., an international insurance brokerage and risk management firm in Itasca, Ill., on Wednesday reported the death of Robert E. Gallagher, its chairman, after a brief illness.
Mr. Gallagher, 83, joined his father's insurance agency in 1947 after graduating from Cornell University. With his brothers, John and Jim, he helped build the company into a global, billion-dollar enterprise. He was named president and chief executive officer in 1963; the company went public in 1984; and in 1990 he was elected chairman. He remained CEO until 1995.
Concerned that the company's values could be jeopardized during its rapid expansion in the 1980s, he composed a one-page list of 25 shared values he called "the rock foundation of the company and our culture." It is communicated to employees under the title "The Gallagher Way."
Mr. Gallagher was a president of the Insurance Institute of America and in 2001 was named Insurance Industry Charitable Fund Man of the Year.
He is survived by his wife, Isabel, four children, 14 grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
