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On the evening of April 21, 1906, Fireman's Fund, with a capital of $1,000,000 and assets of $7,000,000, owed its policyholders in the smoldering city more than $11,000,000. Then vice president in charge of the marine division, Jacob Levison proposed the formation of a new company to take over the insurance of the old, minus San Francisco losses. Each director was asked to subscribe to stock in the new corporation in a ratio of twice the amount of the par value of his former holdings. All but one agreed. Mr. Levison made their subscription notes security for a $250,000 loan from the Crocker-Woolworth Bank. To policyholders he offered 50% in cash and 50% in stock of the new company. On every stockholder he levied a $300 assessment. Mr. Levison's plan worked. Fourteen months after the fire, Fireman's Fund Insurance Co. had assets of $5,345,000, cash capital of $1,600,000 and a surplus over all liabilities. It was the only insurance company ever to survive the destruction of its home city.
With 10,000 agents in the U. S. and a sprinkling in Europe, South America, Africa, Asia, Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand and Arabia, Fireman's Fund is now sixth in volume of premiums among all U. S. insurance companies. Premium income on its underwritings has risen from $12,658,000 in 1933 to $16,326,000 in 1936. Fire insurance is now its smallest field, ocean marine its largest. It writes all forms of insurance except life. Mr. Levison's successor as president of the com-pany is tall, bald Yaleman Charles R. Page. 59, who has been in Mr. Levison's old division of marine insurance ever since he left college, except for three years as a Commissioner of the U. S. Shipping Board during the War.