Notable New Orleanians: A Tricentennial Tribute

PAN-AMERICAN
LIFE
INSURANCE
GROUP
Pan-American Life Insurance Company, the
flagship company of what is now Pan-American
Life Insurance Group (PALIG), was founded in
New Orleans in 1911. The Group’s headquarters
is still there after 100 years.
New Orleans native Crawford Ellis,
worked for United Fruit Company in the early
1900s, transporting goods between the
Crescent City and Central America. He knew
there was a need for quality insurance services
in the region. Together with Edward
Simmons, Marion Souchon and Eugene
McGivney, Ellis founded Pan-American Life,
because they intended it to be “a company for
the Americas” with a mandate to meet the
insurance needs of those in Latin America and
the United States.
The newly-created Pan-American Life
established its first offices on St. Charles
Avenue in the Whitney building. It was not
long before the business expanded beyond
Louisiana and the United States.
In 1912, Pan-American Life opened its first
international operation in Panama, and
expanded into seven other countries while
growing its footprint in the United States to
include nine southern states.
By the end of the 1920s, Pan-American Life
had multiplied the number of people it insured
ten-fold, increased its assets to $8.6 million,
and generated sales of nearly $4 million per
year with a net gain of over $1.1 million.
This growth helped to anchor Pan-American
Life during World War I. While many
companies suffered financially during the war
years, Pan-American Life achieved nearly
twenty percent compounded annual growth,
solidifying the company’s financial strength.
While the United States continued to
encounter economic difficulties with the
stock market crash and Great Depression,
conservative investment strategies and a high
degree of liquidity allowed Pan-American Life
to weather the storm and continue meeting its
obligations. The company diversified into
health and accident insurance and continued
to expand its geographic growth in the U.S.
and abroad.
In 1951, Pan-American Life employed 290
people, had 750 agents, and served 125,000
insureds across the Americas. By the end of
World War II, the company had outgrown its
rented space on St. Charles Avenue and
directors looked for new headquarters. In
1949, Pan-American Life purchased a city
block on Canal Street from the Catholic
Sisters of Charity. Ground was broken and
construction of a new home office began. It
was completed in little over a year and the
NOTABLE NEW ORLEANIANS: A Tricentennial Tribute
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