INSURANCE companies generally tap salesmen, lawyers or investment specialists to become their presidents. Gilbert W. Fitzhugh is one of the few actuaries heading a large firm, but his happens to be the biggest: the venerable, 96-year-old Metropolitan Life. Last week President Fitzhugh announced a 1963 premium income of $2.8 billion and $7.5 billion worth of new insurance issued, which keeps Metropolitan well ahead of runner-up Prudential. The Metropolitan's insurance in force ($106.5 billion) covers 44.5 million people. One life-insurance policyholder (for $500,000) is Fitzhugh, 54, who by his own tables enjoys a life expectancy of 74.7 years. Not figured in, however, is the fact that Fitzhugh does not diet, shuns exercise and is "all thumbs" around his Sutton Place apartment in Manhattan. Still, since graduating from Princeton ('30) he has rarely missed a day's work, progressed steadily through the ranks until last year he took over as chief executive from retiring Chairman Frederic Ecker, who died last week.
AS general manager of Chrysler Corp.'s Chrysler-Plymouth division, Philip N. Buckminster, 47, runs a bigger operation than the chief executive of many a major company. Buckminster is considered one of the fastest-rising automen in Detroit, has become the favorite troubleshooter of Chrysler President Lynn Townsend. Under Buckminster, the Chrysler-Plymouth Division is readying a racy new sports car, the Barracuda, for Spring introduction; last week the division raised its prestige with a 1-2-3 upset victory for Plymouth over Ford in the Daytona 500 stock car race. Trained as a financial analyst at Ford under Robert McNamara, Buckminster is a quiet, thorough executive. Before taking over the division in January, he raised Chrysler's share of U.S. auto exports from 16.2% to 22.3%, increased Dodge truck sales from 40,000 units a year to 74,000 and saved the money-losing Dodge truck operation just as Townsend was ready to scrap it. Buckminster is now busy trying to boost Plymouth from a sad seventh to the No. 3 sales position it once held behind Chevrolet and Ford.