Longtime Travelers Cos. CEO Jay S. Fishman Dies

By Josh Beckerman 

Jay S. Fishman, the executive chairman of Travelers Cos. who steered the insurance company for more than a decade as its chief executive, has died at the age of 63.

Mr. Fishman had been battling a progressing neuromuscular condition, and Travelers said in August of last year that he would step down as chief executive on Dec. 1, handing the job over to Alan D. Schnitzer. At the time, Mr. Fishman told company employees that he was likely dealing with a variant of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or ALS, which is often called Lou Gehrig's disease. He was also using a cane or scooter to get around.

Mr. Schnitzer said Friday that Mr. Fishman "led Travelers to unprecedented success by every measure. Though he would be too humble to admit it, Jay was an icon among corporate leaders." Travelers named its lead director John Dasburg as nonexecutive chairman.

Mr. Fishman was the CEO of St. Paul Cos., which merged with Travelers Property Casualty Corp. in 2004, and he became the CEO of the combined company. He added the chairmanship about a year later.

Travelers under Mr. Fishman was consistently one of the most profitable of the big property-casualty insurance companies, routinely posting enviable profit margins.

Wall Street analysts considered Mr. Fishman one of the industry's best managers, with his underwriters well-trained to price policies to turn a profit and not to succumb to rate cutting.

Under Mr. Fishman's watch, Travelers became the only property-casualty insurer in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, being added to the index in 2009.

The company, which is seen as a bellwether for the rest of the industry, sells car and home insurance to individuals, as well as various types of property and liability insurance to businesses, mostly in the U.S.

Travelers bought Dominion of Canada General Insurance Co. from E-L Financial Corp. for about $1.1 billion in 2013. Shortly after ACE Ltd. agreed to by Chubb Corp. for about $28.3 billion last year, amid talk of more consolidation, Mr. Fishman said Travelers evaluated deal opportunities "all the time." He said Travelers had considered Chubb but believed "the return just didn't measure up."

Write to Josh Beckerman at [e-mail] and Leslie Scism at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 19, 2016 18:07 ET (22:07 GMT)

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