Lloyd’s insurer Beazley loses cancer battle
LLOYD’S of London insurer Beazley yesterday announced that its co-founder and deputy chairman Andrew Beazley had died aged 57, three years after first being diagnosed with cancer.
Beazley was chief executive of the business for 22 years of its 24-year history. The group launched in 1986 and is now one of the largest names in the Lloyd’s market with 720 employees. It floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2002 and is now worth £597m.
Andrew Beazley served as a member of the Lloyd’s Market Board from 1994 and 1997, a period when the market was hit by some of the heaviest losses in its history. He was later made a member of the chairman’s strategy group at Lloyd’s, which set in train further reforms including the creation of the Franchise Board in 2003.
Beazley Group paid out heavy claims in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001 and hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma in 2005. In 2004 the company began to underwrite business locally in the US.
Nick Furlonge, Beazley’s director of risk management, who co-founded the company
with Andrew in 1986, said: “Beazley Group has grown and prospered beyond our wildest dreams, but it has remained a close knit company. Andrew was a close friend and colleague to many of us and his inimitable humour, charisma and style will be remembered by all of us. Our deepest sympathies go out to his wife, Anne, and family.”
Andrew Horton, Beazley Group chief executive, said: “The management team and many others at Beazley have known and worked closely with Andrew for years, if not decades. He had a huge zest for life that inspired all of us. We will miss him deeply.”
Beazley is survived by his wife and three children.