Insurance Agent

Two women who work for a State Farm insurance agent in Randallstown sued him and his corporate employer Tuesday, saying he repeatedly subjected them to sexual harassment, vile insults and a hostile work environment. Kristi Mitchell and Veronica Cobb are seeking at least $4 million in punitive damages from the agent, Obie Sorrell, and State Farm Annuity and Life Insurance Co., a Fortune 500 company based in Bloomington, Ill., that has 17,000 agents and 68,000 employees. Mitchell has been an office manager for State Farm since February 2002, and Cobb was hired in May as a customer-service manager.

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.

An Ellicott City man accused of misusing more than $550,000 was charged yesterday with misappropriation of insurance premiums, Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. announced. Burke Allen Walker, 45, of the 2900 block of Mount Snow Court is accused of misappropriating insurance premiums belonging to Gerling NCM Credit Insurance Inc. between Oct. 16, 2000, and May 3, 2001, according to officials at the Maryland attorney general's office. Walker, an independent insurance agent, did not forward the premiums to Gerling and instead used them for his personal business, said officials at the attorney general's office.

The first time Brian Jolles was confronted with a family member's grave health issue was 20 years ago when his oldest son, Matthew, was born with a rare, life-threatening condition. If Jolles, president of Jolles Insurance, could have looked into the not-too-distant future, he would have learned then that he would soon face the mortality of a loved one, not once but twice more. In the end, after coping with his son's needs and the deaths of his father and oldest brother at young ages, Jolles was inspired to create We Promote Health, a nonprofit organization that is committed to building a healthier county by offering an array of free fitness programming in the schools, the community and the workplace.

A memorial service for Charles J. Huck, a retired insurance agent and railroad conductor, will be held at 7 p.m. tomorrow at the Towson Elks Lodge, 4 W. Pennsylvania Ave.Mr. Huck, who lived on Airway Circle in Towson, died of cancer Friday at St. Joseph Hospital. He was 72.He had been associated with the insurance firm of Gosnell and Hviding and with Security Mutual Life of New York, of which he was an honorary general agent. He retired as a general agent for Security about six years ago, having represented the New York company in this area since 1972.

Samuel R. Zetzer, who founded the Towson insurance company that bears his name, died April 27 in Palm Beach, Fla., after a short bout with cancer. He was 86.A native of Baltimore, Mr. Zetzer had lived in Florida for the last 13 years.He opened his business as Stanley Insurance Services in 1929, later changing the name to Zetzer Insurance. During World War II, he served in the Maryland State Guard, a unit that remained at home when the National Guard was activated.He graduated from National University, now part of George Washington University, in 1926.

Edgar A. Rowe, a retired insurance agent and World War II veteran, died of cancer Nov. 4 at North Arundel Hospital. The Glen Burnie resident was 81. Born in Baltimore and raised on North Broadway, he attended city public schools. From 1943 to 1945, he was a medical technician in the Army. He took part in the D-Day landing at Normandy Beach on June 6, 1944. After the war, he was a Sun Life Insurance Co. sales agent for 35 years. Services were held yesterday. Survivors include his wife of 57 years, the former Dorothy Dernetz, a retired Army secretary at Fort Meade; three sons, Michael Rowe of Glen Burnie, Gary Rowe of Severna Park and David Rowe of Frederick; a daughter, Mary Rowe Echevarria of Edison, N.J.; and two granddaughters.

Mary Catherine Loux, a former insurance agent who was later an investigator for the Maryland Insurance Administration, died of cancer Monday at the Maples of Towson nursing home. She was 80 and formerly lived in Cockeysville. Mary Catherine Walsh was born in Baltimore and raised in Govans. She was a 1941 graduate of the Institute of Notre Dame. During the 1970s, Mrs. Loux began working as an insurance agent for Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. and earned a Certified Life Underwriter certificate from the American College of Insurance in 1974.

George Abbot B. Boucher, a retired insurance agent and former Ruxton resident, died of a heart attack Wednesday at St. Joseph Medical Center. He was 84. Born in Baltimore and raised in the city's Tuscany-Canterbury neighborhood, he was a 1940 graduate of City College. He attended Loyola College before enlisting in the Army in 1943. An artilleryman, he fought in the invasion of Okinawa, and attained the rank of sergeant. After the war, he returned to Baltimore and went to work for William Boucher and Sons, the family tobacco business, hiring and supervising the Baltimore Street store's employees.

A judge has sentenced an insurance agent who admitted stealing $33,000 from her employer to two years in jail.Melinda Hope Mullenix, 41, pleaded guilty to felony theft in June."

A Baltimore pastor who paid a hit man $50,000 in church funds to kill someone for life insurance payouts bought similar indemnity policies on his boyfriend when the pair were fighting, along with contracts on the man's mother and daughter, he testified Friday in city Circuit Court. He canceled them after time, however, "because we were getting along," he said. The admission was one of many confessions Kevin Pushia offered from the witness stand during the trial of his alleged accomplices, brothers James "Omar" Clea and Kareem Clea.

Last week we shared the list of lawyers sanctioned by the Maryland Attorney Grievance Commission for our Naughty Business of the Week . This week we turn to another state agency: the Maryland Insurance Administration. Insurance agents are now referred to as "producers" in the state statutes, so here's the link to the summary list of producers sanctioned in 2011 . If you spot a familiar name, the documents detailing their offenses are listed on the MIA's orders page under "producer enforcement" .

W. Riley "Skip" Whorton, a semiretired financial planner and life insurance agent, died Aug. 27 of leukemia at Johns Hopkins Hospital. The Timonium resident was 68. Mr. Whorton was born on Long Island, N.Y., and then moved with his family to Whortonsville, N.C., where his father worked in the family seafood business. In 1950, he moved to Ellicott City when his father and uncle moved the business to the old Wholesale Fish Market on Market Place in downtown Baltimore.

Benedict L. "Ben" Rosenberg, a longtime insurance executive who served aboard a Liberty ship during World War II, died Monday of a brain tumor at Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center & Hospital. He was 89. Mr. Rosenberg, the son of an insurance agent and a homemaker, was born in Baltimore and raised near Lake Ashburton. After graduating in 1938 from Forest Park High School, Mr. Rosenberg apprenticed at an insurance firm where he learned the property and casualty insurance business.

While legislation calling for the creation of exchanges where the uninsured can easily shop for health coverage has been stalled in Congress and isn't expected this year in the Maryland General Assembly, insurance agents and brokers are girding for the debate. Major insurance trade groups in Maryland say the state doesn't need a new program, like the one Massachusetts created ahead of federal reform to help provide universal coverage there. Maryland's private sector is equipped to inform and absorb the state's uninsured on its own, according to a report to be released today by the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors of Maryland and the Maryland Association of Health Underwriters.

Two women who work for a State Farm insurance agent in Randallstown sued him and his corporate employer Tuesday, saying he repeatedly subjected them to sexual harassment, vile insults and a hostile work environment. Kristi Mitchell and Veronica Cobb are seeking at least $4 million in punitive damages from the agent, Obie Sorrell, and State Farm Annuity and Life Insurance Co., a Fortune 500 company based in Bloomington, Ill., that has 17,000 agents and 68,000 employees. Mitchell has been an office manager for State Farm since February 2002, and Cobb was hired in May as a customer-service manager.

A. Leroy Metz, an insurance agent, died Sunday of undetermined causes at his Perry Hall home. He was 72.Known as Roy, he worked for 50 years in the insurance business. He had been associated with Western Reserve Life Insurance Co. since 1963 and previously had worked for Mutual of Omaha and Penn Life Insurance Co.He was born and raised in Wind Gap, Pa., and moved to Baltimore in the early 1950s.As a young man, he organized and directed a dance band, which played at Pocono resorts. He also collected big-band recordings and was especially fond of the music of Frank Sinatra.

Services for William L. McFarlane, a semiretired insurance agent, will be held at 11:30 a.m. today at the Loring Byers funeral establishment, 8728 Liberty Road, Randallstown.Mr. McFarlane, who was 66, died Wednesday at St. Joseph Hospital after a blood vessel ruptured.He had owned and operated an insurance agency under his name for about 30 years.Born in Baltimore, he was a graduate of the Polytechnic Institute and the Johns Hopkins University.He served in the Navy in the Pacific during World War II.He was a member of the Milford Mill United Methodist Church and the Pikesville-Randallstown Lions Club.