John J. Byrne (July 11, 1932 – March 7, 2013) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

longtime insurance industry executive who was CEO of

GEICO The Government Employees Insurance Company (GEICO ) is an American vehicle insurance company headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland. In addition to auto insurance, GEICO provides motorcycle, ATV, RV, boat, snowmobile, travel, pet, event, hom ...

White Mountains Insurance Group White Mountains Insurance Group is a diversified insurance and related financial services holding company based in Hamilton, Bermuda. Redomiciled from Delaware, United States, on October 25, 1999, the company conducts most of its business throu ...

and Fireman's Fund. He also served as chairman of

Overstock.com Beyond, Inc. (formerly known as Overstock, Inc.) is an American internet retailer, online retailer that owns the "Bed Bath & Beyond" brand except for within Mexico and the "Overstock" brand, and runs online stores named with those brands. The M ...

Early background

As a young man, Byrne worked for his father, who owned a small insurance agency in Wildwood,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

. He attended

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

, where he graduated with a mathematics degree, and then worked as an actuarial assistant for

Travelers Insurance Company The Travelers Companies, Inc., commonly known as Travelers, is an American multinational insurance company. It is the second-largest writer of U.S. commercial property casualty insurance, and the sixth-largest writer of U.S. personal insurance t ...

. He then earned a master's degree in mathematics. After serving in the

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its origins to 1 ...

, Byrne worked as a reinsurance salesman for Lincoln National Life Insurance. He then moved to Travelers and was eventually promoted to executive vice president in charge of life insurance operations.

Insurance industry magnate

After being passed over for president at Travelers in 1975, Byrne quit to become chief executive of

, then a troubled Washington, D.C., auto insurer.

sold insurance directly to low-risk drivers, but had begun to lose money after underwriting riskier drivers. The company's shares had declined and regulators wanted to shut it down. Supported by

Warren Buffett Warren Edward Buffett ( ; born August 30, 1930) is an American investor and philanthropist who currently serves as the chairman and CEO of the conglomerate holding company Berkshire Hathaway. As a result of his investment success, Buffett is ...

(who was a close watcher of GEICO and had named the company "The Security I Like Best" in 1951), led a turnaround of GEICO; Byrne accomplished this by firing more than 1,500 employees, reducing the staff to fewer than 6,400, and closing 23 sales offices. GEICO also stopped writing policies in several states. Buffett's

Berkshire Hathaway Berkshire Hathaway Inc. () is an American multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. Originally a textile manufacturer, the company transitioned into a conglomerate starting in 1965 under the management of c ...

eventually acquired the company, and Buffett has called Byrne the "Babe Ruth of insurance." In 1985, Byrne was invited to run the troubled Fireman's Fund, then a subsidiary of

American Express American Express Company or Amex is an American bank holding company and multinational financial services corporation that specializes in payment card industry, payment cards. It is headquartered at 200 Vesey Street, also known as American Expr ...

. Fireman's had incurred $356 million in pretax losses in 1983 and 1984. Byrne vastly improved Fireman's financial performance and initiated a public offering of some of Fireman's shares in 1985. The company was sold to Allianz AG in 1991. Byrne retained the Fireman's holding company, which he later renamed as

Role at Overstock.com

Byrne's son

Patrick M. Byrne Patrick Michael Byrne (born November 29, 1962) is an American businessman, promoter of conspiracy theories, and libertarian noted for his views on public education and blockchain. In 1999, Byrne launched Overstock.com (currently Beyond, Inc.) ...

bought a 60% interest in the Internet retailer D2: Discounts Direct, changing its name to

. The elder Byrne served as an Overstock.com director from October 1999 until October 2002, and then rejoined the board in June 2004. He was elected chairman in October 2005. In March 2006, the elder Byrne said that he was thinking of stepping down in disagreement over his son's campaign against

naked short selling Naked short selling, or naked shorting, is the practice of short-selling a tradable asset of any kind without first borrowing the asset from someone else or ensuring that it can be borrowed. When the seller does not obtain the asset and deli ...

, which he said was distracting his son from leading the company. In April 2006, John Byrne stepped down to become vice-chairman, and was replaced by Patrick Byrne. In July 2006, John Byrne resigned from Overstock's board of directors. In August 2008, Jack Byrne said that after "much initial skepticism" he believed his son was "right all along" about the battle and lawsuits with short-sellers and analysts. He was reelected to the board on May 12, 2010. Byrne died at his home in Etna, New Hampshire on March 7, 2013, after a long struggle against cancer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Byrne, John J. 1931 births 2013 deaths American chief executives of financial services companies People from Passaic, New Jersey Rutgers University alumni Deaths from cancer in New Hampshire