Charles A. McAlear, Founder of NAPSLO, Dies at 87
Charles A. McAlear, a founder of the National Association of Professional Surplus Lines Offices, died March 12 at his home in South Haven, Michigan. He was 87.
McAlear worked as a chartered property/casualty underwriter, and founded McAlear Associates, a wholesale insurance brokerage firm in Grand Rapids, Michigan. During that time, several states had surplus lines associations, but none represented the industry on a national level, according to the Wholesale Specialty Insurance Association, NAPSLO's successor organization. In the early 1970s, McAlear initiated the effort to form a nationwide association.
In 1975, NAPSLO was incorporated in New York. It held its first annual meeting in November 1975, where McAlear was elected the association's first president. He would serve two years. NAPSLO in 1994 renamed its award honoring individuals who made significant contributions to the surplus lines industry the Charles A. McAlear Industry Award, WSIA said.
WSIA itself was formed in 2017 with the merger of NAPSLO and the American Association of Managing General Agents.
McAlear continued working in the field until his retirement in 1987. In 1994, he became a charter member of the Michigan Insurance Hall of Fame.
Born in Bay City, Michigan, he served as a U.S. Army corporal during the Korean War, according to his obituary. He learned Mandarin Chinese at the Army Language School before being deployed, it said. He studied at the University of Michigan, from which he received his bachelor's and master's degrees.
McAlear was the author of two books, one of which, Reappraising China, Redefining Literacy, was published in November.