Donald Roderick McLennan (October 27, 1873 – October 14, 1944) was born in

Duluth Duluth ( ) is a Port, port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of St. Louis County, Minnesota, St. Louis County. Located on Lake Superior in Minnesota's Arrowhead Region, the city is a hub for cargo shipping. The population ...

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

, son of William Lillingston McLennan and Julia MacLeod. He was the

co-founder An organizational founder is a person who has undertaken some or all of the formational work needed to create a new organization, whether it is a business, a charitable organization, a governing body, a school, a group of entertainers, or any oth ...

of the

insurance broker An insurance broker is an intermediary who sells, solicits, or negotiates insurance on behalf of a client for compensation. An insurance broker is distinct from an insurance agent in that a broker typically acts on behalf of a client by negoti ...

age firm Burroughs, Marsh & McLennan in 1905, which was renamed

Marsh & McLennan Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc., doing business as Marsh McLennan, is a global professional services firm, headquartered in New York City with businesses in insurance brokerage, risk management, reinsurance services, talent management, invest ...

in 1906 after the retirement of Mr. D. W. Burroughs. McLennan served as the

Chairman of the Board The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a Board of directors, board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by ...

from 1935 until his death in 1944 in

Lake Forest, Illinois Lake Forest is a city located in Lake County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 19,367. The city is along the shore of Lake Michigan, and is a part of the Chicago metropolitan area and t ...

. At the time of his death, the firm had offices in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, and twenty other cities. In 2020, Marsh & McLennan Companies had over 76,000 employees and annual revenues of $17 billion.

Professional life

Donald McLennan and co-founder

Henry W. Marsh Henry Wheelwright Marsh (May 1, 1860 – April 13, 1943) was an American insurance executive who Entrepreneur, co-founded the insurance brokerage firm Burroughs, Marsh & McLennan, which later became Marsh & McLennan. Early life Marsh was born on ...

introduced the "concept of a broker acting as a buyer of insurance representing the client, rather than as a seller of insurance."MMC Milestones
Marsh and McLennan helped to pioneer the concept of risk management. In 1894, Donald McLennan began his insurance career at Stryker, Manley & Buck (formerly Kimberly, Stryker & Manley est.1881) in Duluth, MN; Soon after, he became a partner in C.H. Graves & Co., which shortly was consolidated with his former firm to become the Graves-Manley Agency. McLennan was a vice-president, and shortly thereafter, the firm became the McLennan-Manley Agency. In the early 1900s, McLennan established a standard for thorough research in assessing risk: he spent 30 consecutive nights on a

sleeper train The sleeping car or sleeper (often ) is a railway passenger car that can accommodate all passengers in beds of one kind or another, for the purpose of sleeping. George Pullman was the main American innovator and owner of sleeper cars in the lat ...

, traveling coast to coast across the U.S., to inspect the operations of the railroad lines. By 1917, the year the United States entered World War I, Marsh & McLennan had established offices throughout the country. During the war, McLennan became responsible for the allocation and regulation of building materials for purposes other than those directly related to the war effort. For the duration of the war, no U.S. company could build an industrial plant without McLennan's approval. In this way McLennan acquired many business contacts throughout the United States, enhancing Marsh & McLennan's reputation in the postwar period. While McLennan was the

chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

of the company, Marsh & McLennan expanded its business into the consulting industry in 1938. Over the course of his life, McLennan sat on the boards of the

American Sugar Refining Company The American Sugar Refining Company (ASR) was the most significant American business unit in the sugar refining industry in the early 1900s. It had interests in Puerto Rico and other Caribbean locations and operated one of the world's largest s ...

, the Evergreen Mines Company,

Armour & Company Armour & Company was an American company and was one of the five leading firms in the meat packing industry. It was founded in Chicago, in 1863, by the Armour brothers led by Philip Danforth Armour. By 1880, the company had become Chicago's mo ...

, the First National Bank of Lake Forest, the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad ( reporting mark PRR), legal name as the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, also known as the "Pennsy," was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At its ...

, the Peoples Gas, Light and Coke Company, the

Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Company The Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Company was an American bank established in 1910, which was at its peak the seventh-largest commercial bank in the United States as measured by deposits, with approximately $40 billion in assets. ...

, the

Pullman Company The Pullman Company, founded by George Pullman, was a manufacturer of railroad cars in the mid-to-late 19th century through the first half of the 20th century, during the boom of railroads in the United States. Through rapid late-19th century d ...

, Pullman, Inc., the Chicago Corporation, and the Empire Securities Company.

References and footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:McLennan, Donald R. American businesspeople in insurance American chief executives American financiers American investors 1873 births 1944 deaths