Insurance Agency

For Maryland's insurance administration, the school year is already over and the grades are in: straight 'A's, after posting failing marks in tests taken last fall.It has been a remarkable turnaround -- and a necessary one.Until Maryland was threatened with loss of national accreditation, both Gov. William Donald Schaefer and the General Assembly refused to admit there was a crisis brewing in the insurance agency. But when it finally dawned on them that 113 insurance companies with headquarters in Maryland could be forced to move to another state, reform action moved swiftly through the legislature last year.

Joseph "Jerry" Hankoff, a retired insurance agency owner and a decorated World War II bombardier-navigator, died April 24 of complications from dementia at the Edgewater Pointe Estates nursing facility in Boca Raton, Fla. He was 91 and had lived in Pikesville. Born in Baltimore and raised on Linden Avenue, he was a 1938 City College graduate. He attended the University of Baltimore and studied law and accounting. He enlisted in the Army Air Forces in 1943 and trained as a navigator-bombardier.

Edna Eckley Lankford, who for decades worked as a secretary for the E. Churchill Murray Insurance Agency in Annapolis, died of Alzheimer's disease Thursday at a retirement home in Easton. She was 86 and had lived in Annapolis. Born Edna Earl Perrie in Lothian, she graduated from Anne Arundel County's Southern High School in 1936. Soon after, she started at the insurance agency. After her retirement, she worked part time as an administrative assistant at the Naval Academy and for the state legislature.

Redmer Insurance Group has named Bel Air native Kelly Mee as manager of commercial lines insurance. Mee, a Baldwin resident who is a licensed insurance agent, brings 22 years of experience in administrative, personnel and financial settings. At Redmer Insurance Group, she will oversee the sale of commercial lines insurance throughout the mid-Atlantic region. She most recently served as account executive in the arts insurance department at Maury Donnelly & Parr Inc., an insurance agency and broker headquartered in Baltimore.

Lawrence M. Sullivan Sr., a retired Nationwide Insurance agent, died of leukemia Friday at St. Joseph Medical Center. He was 74. Born in Baltimore and raised in Rosedale, Mr. Sullivan was a graduate of Kenwood High School and the University of Baltimore. He served in the Army in Germany from 1947 to 1950, attaining the rank of sergeant. He was recalled to active duty during the Korean War. For 47 years until his retire- ment in 1998, the Sparks resident owned and operated Lawrence M. Sullivan Insurance Agency Inc. on Belair Road.

William K. "Kell" Dietz, retired co-owner of an insurance business who helped needy people in his community, died Saturday of a heart attack at his home on Philadelphia Road. The lifelong Rosedale resident was 77.He retired in 1986 from the William K. Dietz Insurance Agency, now known as Dietz Associates, which he established with his wife, the former Elizabeth T. Michel, in 1959. During retirement, he was a consultant to family-owned businesses.He was a member of the Dietz family of Rosedale.

A former state regulator has sued the Maryland Insurance Administration after the agency refused to release publicly the rates it approved last month for a new standard package of health benefits to small businesses.Darah Phillip Kehnemuyi, a lawyer with offices in Damascus and Frederick, said in a lawsuit filed this week that the administration's failure to release the rates violated the spirit of a new health insurance law intended to encourage comparison shopping and price competition.

John G. Gotzen, retired owner of an Overlea insurance agency who was active in World War II veterans affairs, died March 5 at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium of complications from cancer and a stroke. The Perry Hall resident was 79. Born in Baltimore and raised in Overlea, he was a Kenwood High School graduate. He joined the Army during World War II, and served as a combat engineer and tank commander with the 279th Combat Engineer Battalion in North Africa and Germany. He received the Purple Heart and attained the rank of staff sergeant.

Charles M. Armetta, president of a Lutherville insurance agency whose interests included vintage cars and rock 'n' roll, died of a heart attack Tuesday at his Riderwood home. He was 58. Mr. Armetta was born in Baltimore and raised in the Hillendale section of Baltimore County. He graduated from Towson High School in 1962, and began his career that year as an underwriter for Northwestern National Insurance Co. in Baltimore. During the next 12 years, he was also a claims adjuster and field representative with Northwestern, then joined H. Thomas Grimes, an independent insurance broker, in 1974.

ANNAPOLIS -- The House of Delegates gave thumbs up yesterday to a plan to separate the Insurance Division from its department, create an anti-fraud bureau within it and exact some of the funding for the new agency from the industry it regulates.But the legislation is unlikely to survive the Senate intact, some legislators say.By a 124-2 vote, the delegates passed House Bill 1417 and sent it to the Senate, which is considering a similar version. Both bills were sponsored at the request of Gov. William Donald Schaefer.

Barclay Haskins Trippe Jr., a retired Easton businessman and preservationist, died June 2 of cancer at the Talbot County farm where he had lived his entire life. He was 87. Mr. Haskins, the son of a businessman and a homemaker, was born and raised on the family farm near Easton. He was a 1941 graduate of Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Va., and enlisted in the Navy the next year. He served aboard destroyer escorts in both the Atlantic and Pacific Theaters, and was discharged in 1946 with the rank of lieutenant.

Richard W. McJilton, an insurance agency owner who was long active in Dundalk's business, civic and educational circles, died of cancer May 23 at his home. He was 82. Born in Dundalk, he grew up in Sparrows Point on E Street. He was a 1946 graduate of Sparrows Point High School, where he played football. He competed in a 1944 Steel Bowl game between rivals Sparrows Point and Dundalk. After high school, he enlisted in the Army and served as a squad leader and military police officer during the occupation of Japan after World War II. He then used the GI Bill of Rights to attend the former Western Maryland College, where he played lacrosse, and the University of Baltimore.

Philip Wesley Tawes, a retired insurance executive and son of former Maryland Gov. J. Millard Tawes, died of complications from Alzheimer's disease Dec. 7 at his Crisfield home. He was 85. Mr. Tawes, who was born and raised in Crisfield, was also the son of the late Avalynne Gibson Tawes. He was a 1939 graduate of Crisfield High School and left the University of Maryland to enlist in the Army during World War II. He served with Company L 1229th Division from Crisfield and landed at Normandy, France, on June 12, 1944.

Acquisitions Shore Bancshares Inc., based in Easton, acquired TSGIA Inc. & Subsidiaries of Salisbury, a regional wholesale insurance agency, and marine insurance agency Jack Martin & Associates Inc. of Annapolis. The principals and staff of both acquired firms will be retained. Edward A. Dickerson, chief executive of Salisbury-based TSGIA, will also serve as CEO of a newly formed wholesale insurance subsidiary of Shore Bancshares, which will be managed separately from the company's group of retail insurance subsidiaries.

Gov. Martin O'Malley said yesterday that he wants his new insurance commissioner to advocate for consumers in the face of the industry's "powerful special interests," a tactic he said was necessary to reverse a pro-industry bias that prevailed over the past four years. The governor likened his appointment of Ralph S. Tyler to be Maryland's head insurance regulator to his efforts to remake the Public Service Commission into a more consumer-friendly body, a change Tyler helped engineer. The governor said Tyler would "really stand up for consumers and working people in our state" in an arena in which they need the government's help.

Horace White Harrison, a noted Baltimore stamp collector, jazz enthusiast and retired insurance executive, died of pancreatic cancer Friday at his Ruxton home. He was 81. Born and raised in Garrison, Mr. Harrison attended McDonogh School and graduated from St. Andrews School in Middletown, Del., in 1939. Mr. Harrison, who began collecting stamps in his youth, sold his assortment of stamps from the Philippines to finance his freshman year at Princeton University and his U.S. collection to help pay for his sophomore and junior years.