Cornelius Vander Starr, His Life and Work

Busy at Work

When Starr formed the Asia Life Insurance Company, he invited several prominent Chinese to serve on the board.  Asia Life started selling life insurance in Shanghai, becoming the first western insurer to provide coverage for the Chinese.  He also assisted in teaching local nationals technical and management skills related to insurance and then employed them in managerial and executive positions in his companies—a practice that remains the backbone of AIG's business philosophy.

Mr. Starr introduced sophisticated underwriting and technical facilities to several nations, thus assisting them in the development of commerce, industry and local insurance enterprises.

C.V. Starr East Asian Library / 300 Kent Hall, M.C. 3901 / 1140 Amsterdam Avenue / New York, NY 10027 / (212) 854-4318 / starr@libraries.cul.columbia.edu