A longtime member of the Massachusetts insurance industry, Arthur J. Remillard Jr., has died at the age of 87. Mr. Remillard passed away peacefully in Boca Raton, Florida on November 28, 2018 surrounded by his family.
Born in Auburn, MA to Arthur J Remillard and Grace (Dion) Remillard, he leaves behind his love and partner of over 30 years, Elizabeth Seraphin, along with his five children and their respective families.
A giant in the Massachusetts insurance industry, most knew Mr. Remillard as the CEO and founder of The Commerce Insurance Company. Many, however, may be surprised to learn that Mr. Remillard actually began his career in insurance as an independent agent.
After serving as Gunnery Yeoman in the US Navy during the Korean Conflict, Mr. Remillard returned home to Massachusetts to attend college, graduating from Clark University in 1956. After spending the initial years of his career focused on public accounting, Mr. Remillard’s entrepreneurial spirit spurred him to focus on business, finance and insurance.
In 1966, Mr. Remillard formally began his insurance career with the purchase of the Clark Insurance Agency of Webster and Oxford. After later buying the Prout Insurance Agency, he combined the two forming the Clark-Prout Insurance Agency, a stalwart in Webster for many years. The following excerpt from his obituary, further highlights his career trajectory, and explains the reasoning behind his decision to help establish The Commerce Insurance Company:
As an insurance agent, he was well positioned to witness the problems and opportunities that existed in the automobile insurance business in Massachusetts in the late 60s and early 70s. With those opportunities in mind, Arthur in 1972, along with a number of local investors, formed The Commerce Insurance Company and entered the Massachusetts personal lines insurance market focusing primarily on automobile and homeowner insurance.
From modest beginnings and after a financially challenging initial two years, the company grew rapidly and moved its’ company headquarters to Main St. in Webster in 1982, where many of the company’s operations remain today. In 1987 The Commerce Insurance Company was placed under the ownership of a new holding company entitled The Commerce Group Inc which ultimately became a public company listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1995, the same year it began the acquisition of insurance companies in other states.
At the time of Arthur’s retirement in 2006, Commerce was the leading writer of automobile and homeowner insurance in Massachusetts, the 19th largest personal automobile insurer in the United States, had expanded into other northeast states and had acquired insurance companies in California, Ohio, and New York. At that time Commerce underwrote $1.8 billion in insurance premiums generated by independent insurance agencies and serviced by 2,100 employees. In 2008, Commerce Group Inc was purchased by MAPFRE Insurance, the largest personal lines insurance underwriter in Spain. All Commerce employees were retained.
As Mr. Remillard business successes grew over the years, so did his charitable giving. Through his family foundation he supported many charities in Massachusetts, and was a leading contributor to the UMASS Memorial Medical Center, the largest healthcare provider serving the residents of central Massachusetts. Other local public charitable organizations he supported include the Salvation Army, the American Red Cross, Partners in Charity, the Hubbard/Harrington Hospital in Webster, the Head Start program also of Webster MA as well as other central Massachusetts educational institutions such as the Boys and Girls Clubs, and numerous food bank programs.
He also supported many charities in Boca Raton, Florida, including financing and building Boca Helping Hands, the largest food bank, career training and support center for underprivileged residents of Boca Raton.
His son, Arthur J Remillard, III, said of his father, “our Dad was a highly intelligent, focused, ambitious man who cared deeply about his family, his community, and the less privileged among us. He touched and enhanced the lives of so many in central Massachusetts, Florida, and beyond. We mourn his passing but celebrate his life, his accomplishments, his compassion and his generosity”.
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