Early in 1931 New York's Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt called up a lawyer friend in Rochester, told him he had a little work for him. The Governor wanted George Slingerland Van Schaick (pronounced Skoik) to be his insurance commissioner. Over a lengthy luncheon Lawyer Van Schaick protested that he had never held public office, that he knew nothing about insurance. Tut, tut, replied the Governor, there were plenty of insurance experts in the department. What Mr. Roosevelt wanted was an administrator. So at one of the most critical periods in insurance history George S. Van Schaick took over the insurance department...
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