Insurance Agent

Jere J. Danaher, a former general manager of an insurance association and Air Force veteran, died Tuesday of congestive heart failure at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. The Lutherville resident was 77. Mr. Danaher was born in Baltimore and raised on Brendan Avenue. He was a 1948 graduate of Loyola High School and earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland, College Park in 1953. Mr. Danaher accepted a commission in the Air Force in 1953 and attended flight school, from which he graduated in 1955.

If you are a small business owner, chances are you dream about the future. You may think of yourself networking with industry leaders, cornering the market with an innovative service or directing hundreds of employees. Entrepreneurs often fail to consider a less cheerful scenario: What happens to their business if they die suddenly? Would their business close? Would it be clear who controls the assets? Would your family assets be protected? The best way to avoid this uncertainty is to have business life insurance.

Warren Gans Blosser, a World War II Navy gunner who participated in the assault on Iwo Jima and later worked as a railroader and insurance agent, died of congestive heart failure Nov. 14 at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium. The former Fallston resident was 85. Mr. Blosser was born in Smithfield, Pa., and was raised there and in Uniontown, Pa. After graduating from Smithfield High School in 1939, he worked at U.S. Steel's Clairton Works in Clairton, Pa., before enlisting in the Navy in 1940.

Samuel Weinblatt, a retired insurance man who forged lasting relationships with Baltimore's Chinese community whom he befriended and served for more than 60 years, died Thursday of myasthenia gravis at Sunrise Brighton Gardens of Pikesville. He was 93. Mr. Weinblatt, the son of Russian immigrants, was born and raised in a Bond Street rowhouse. While attending City College from which he graduated in 1932, Mr. Weinblatt befriended Jimmy Wu, who became a lifelong friend and a well-known restaurateur and whose New China Inn on North Charles Street was a popular destination for decades.

Thomas F. Cadwalader Jr., an insurance agent and World War II veteran wounded in the D-Day invasion of France, died Monday of prostate cancer at Joseph Richey House in Baltimore. The former Tuxedo Park resident was 94. Mr. Cadwalader was born in 1912 at a West Mount Royal Avenue home to parents who traced their lineage to a Declaration of Independence signer and a Revolutionary War general. "He was a very modest man, and a man of the utmost integrity. A very loyal friend," said his wife of 61 years, the former Phyllis Jane "Jonnie" Clegg Norrie.

While many farmers have purchased crop insurance to manage their risk against weather conditions such as the current drought, the Maryland Department of Agriculture reminds farmers to stay in close contact with their crop insurance agent, as there are rules that must be followed to receive claims. Also, the department's State Chemist Section is offering farmers free testing of corn grain and forage for nitrates, aflatoxins and prussic acid. These compounds, which can be deadly to livestock, are often present in grain in dry weather conditions.

Alfred L. Hurwitz, an insurance agent from Baltimore who found joy as a bit player in television and the movies, died of complications from a viral infection yesterday at Northwest Hospital Center. He was 79. Mr. Hurwitz spent much of his professional life handling life insurance as an independent agent affiliated with the John Hancock and Diversified companies. He was also a financial planner. Over the past decade, he also appeared in TV commercials for LifeBridge Health medical centers and other companies, and as an on-screen extra.

Howard Eugene Hamilton Sr., a retired Nationwide Insurance Co. agent and avid collector of vintage automobiles and railroad memorabilia, died of lung cancer Friday at his Granite home. He was 72. Mr. Hamilton, who was born in Granite and spent his entire life there, was a 1952 graduate of Milford Mill High School. He worked as a plumber and served in the National Guard before establishing the Hamilton Insurance Agency in Rockdale in 1955. He retired in 1998. Mr. Hamilton enjoyed collecting and restoring classic automobiles.

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.

Country club payment draws opposition County government's plan to pay a Towson country club $2 million to limit development on its land was questioned yesterday by a county councilman who warned of setting a "dangerous precedent." The plan is a compromise between the Country Club of Maryland and community leaders who were opposed to development on the property. The club would move ahead with plans to build 36 homes on part of its golf course, while promising to restrict development on the remaining 143 acres for 25 years.